What Drastic Measures Has Algeria Taken to Prevent Exam Fraud?

In Algeria, cheating on national high school graduation exams appears to have been rampant in recent years. In 2016, for example, more than 500,000 students were forced to retake the tests after it was determined that questions and answers had popped up online before the start of each test session. To combat this problem, in June 2018, the authorities pulled the plug on the Internet for up to three hours a day, for an entire week -- and in the process, significantly disrupted the daily lives and businesses of millions of Algerian citizens.

And the answer is:

• In 2017, Algeria's Ministry of National Education used mobile phone jammers and blocked access to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at 2,100 exam centers. But there were still problems.
• The government has been unapologetic about the total blackout in 2018. “We have taken steps to guarantee the security and therefore the credibility of our national exams,” one education official said.
• Ethiopia and Uzbekistan took similar measures after a university entrance exam appeared online. Iraq also shut down the Internet to stop cheating on its national sixth-grade exams.