Sanjesh Organization: We will cut off the internet throughout the country during the entrance exam

The deputy director of the National Testing Agency's exams affairs announced on Wednesday, January 4, that "with the cooperation of the Ministry of Communications, the internet will be cut off throughout Iran during the entrance exam." However, according to the Minister of Communications, the organization's request has not yet been approved.

Hassan Maroti, who announced this news on a television program on Wednesday, responded to a question from the host who said, "It seems that this method is not logical and the Ministry of Communications must comment on this and is responsible," stating that the Ministry of Communications will only be responsible for "the technical aspect of this issue."

An hour after the news was released, the Minister of Communications in Ebrahim Raisi's government confirmed that his ministry had no role in the decision-making process and that "the National Security Council must decide." However, according to Issa Zarepour, the request from the Senjez organization "has not yet been approved."

Hassan Maroti, deputy director of the testing organization, explained in an interview: "Last year, the internet was cut off in some places, but they were able to get an antenna from other antennas; because if an antenna is cut off in one area, it is possible to get a line from an antenna that is a little further away in the same area. Therefore, we plan to cut off the internet throughout the country during the entrance exam."

This seems to be the only solution that Iranian education authorities have found to the problem of exam cheating. Last week, news broke that the Center for Evaluation and Quality Assurance of the Education System had called on the Ministry of Interior to “cut off and restrict the internet in areas where final school exams are being held.”

The deputy head of testing affairs at the National Testing Agency added that he believes "it would be worth shutting down the internet nationwide for a few hours, because the fate of the candidates will be decided during those hours."

The country's education official's comments come at a time when the continued severe internet filtering in Iran has caused huge financial losses to mobile phone operators and large companies whose main income comes from people's internet usage, and at the same time, these companies' complaints to government institutions have gone unanswered.

Since the start of the current nationwide protests on September 16 of this year, the Islamic Republic has severely restricted internet access for citizens, including complete and periodic internet shutdowns and slowing down its speed.

This interruption or restriction of access continues after nearly four months, and after this long period of time, it seems to be the only solution that the Islamic Republic's security authorities have found to silence the people's voices.

However, the decision to completely cut off the internet "in the entire country" during the entrance exam is a new thing. Previously, the Islamic Republic authorities had announced, simultaneously with the national entrance exam of 1401, on July 29 and 30, that they had only cut off access to mobile internet in areas close to the exam areas.

The decision to expand the Internet shutdown for citizens during the entrance exam comes at a time when in July 2017, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the then Minister of Communications of Iran, criticized the shutdown of 3G and 4G Internet access at the exam venue and said that the appropriate solution to increase the security of the exam and prevent questions from being leaked is to install a "jammer" at the exam venue.

A jammer is a device or software that blocks signals or frequencies with a limited range.

Although Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi admitted in his interview with the media that the cost of disrupting the internet network is greater than the cost of installing jammers, the officials of the National Testing Organization have not only used the damaging method of cutting off the internet in the areas where the entrance exam is being held, but now, according to the Deputy Director of Examinations Affairs of the National Testing Organization, they intend to cut off the internet nationwide during the entrance exam.

The complete disconnection of the Iranian people from the global internet first occurred during the widespread protests of November 2019, which lasted for at least a week and plunged the country into a complete communications blackout.

According to Mehr News Agency, based on the resolution of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, "the first stage of the 1402 entrance exam will be held on January 29 and 30, and the second stage on July 5 and 6, 1402, and finally this entrance exam will have one admission in Mehr 1402."

Source: Radio Farda