Forget Matiangi’s Draconian Regulations, This Is How Ethiopia Deals With Examination Cheating

While the Kenyan CS for education Fred Matiang’i was rightly considered mad when he came up with a raft of measures to curb cheating, Ethiopian authorities have taken it to a whole new level.

Among the new regulations by Matiang’i was the banning of prayer days, extended second term dates, no visiting days and having head teachers take charge of the exams. These were met with the expected chagrin but the minister’s orders prevailed. Now, with their announcement of banning social media, the Ethiopian authorities have shown Matiang’i that he still has more room and avenues to exploit.

Ethiopian students are sitting for the University entrance exams for a couple of days and the nation has decided to block all social media sites for the duration of the exam to curb cheating and avoid distracting the students. This follows a previous cancellation of national exams after end year of exams were posted online. Since Saturday social sites have been inaccessible.  

Critics already point that this is a move by the government to test the public reaction and could be a way of filtering and blocking information. Maybe Matiang’i can add this one to his new regulations.