Need to Stop Students Cheating in Exams? Just Turn Off the Country's Internet Like Algeria

Algeria just broke the internet. Literally?

It's exam time in Algeria and there's a serious problem in the country of students leaking the questions online before and during the exam.

In 2016, there was widespread cheating after exam questions were released online. Last year, in order to fix that problem, the government asked internet service providers to block access to social media sites during the exam period. This proved ineffective and cheating continued to occur. 

So, in order to stamp out cheating once and for all, Algeria opted for a simple solution this year. Turn the internet off. Nationwide.

Yes, apparently, turning off the internet is completely possible, which is probably a pretty scary thought for all you conspiracy theorists out there.

The internet in Algeria will be turned off for an hour after the start of each high school exam between 20 July and 25 July. Facebook will be blocked entirely throughout the country for the duration of the exam period.

According to Algerian newspaper Annahar, the Education Minister, Nouria Benghabrit, was not comfortable with the extreme lengths gone to stop cheating but also said Algeria "should not passively stand in front of such a possible leak."

To take matters further, schools around the country will have metal detectors to stop students from bringing in internet-enabled devices, and examination printing locations will have mobile jammers and surveillance cameras present.

I guess we'll find out how effective the internet moratorium was after 25 July when the internet and Facebook are properly restored.

Photo: iStock.com/skynesher