Another internet blackout in Syria during exams

The Syrian Minister of Education Darem Al-Tabbaa’ announced that the internet will be shut down during the high school exams in 2021 to limit cheating and prevent questions from getting leaked prior to the exams. However, he declared that this year the Ministry of Education in cooperation with the Ministry of Telecommunication will further use encryption to prevent exams questions from getting leaked when sent for printing. If encryption proved to be effective, Mr Al-Tabbaa’ promised to stop suspending the internet in future examinations. In response, the schedule of internet disruption was circulated across Syrian social media groups and page highlighting that the shutdown will be on specific exam dates from 31 May 2021 to 22 June 2021. The Syrian government has embarked on this practice since 2016 official high school exams.