Examination Organization: We Will Cut Off Internet Across the Entire Country During the Exam
The deputy director of exams at the national Examination Organization announced on Wednesday, December 5, that “in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications, internet will be cut off across Iran during the university entrance exam.” However, according to the Minister of Communications, this request has not yet been approved.
Hassan Morwati, who made this announcement on Wednesday during a television program, responded to the host’s question that “this method does not seem logical and the Ministry of Communications should comment on it and bears responsibility,” stating that the Ministry of Communications would only have “technical responsibility for this matter.”
Hours after the news broke, the Minister of Communications in Ibrahim Raisi’s government confirmed that his ministry has no role in this decision and “the National Security Council should decide.” However, according to Isa Zarepour, the Examination Organization’s request “has not yet been approved.”
Hassan Morwati, deputy director of the Examination Organization, explained in his interview: “Last year, internet was cut off in specific areas, but they were able to pick up signals from other antennas; because if one antenna in an area is cut off, it is possible in that area to get the signal from another antenna that is a bit farther away. Therefore, we intend to cut off internet across the entire country during the entrance exam.”
It appears this is the only solution Iranian education authorities have found for the problem of cheating in exams. Last week, news was published that the National Assessment and Quality Assurance Center of the Education System had requested from the Interior Ministry to “cut off and restrict internet in areas where final school exams are held.”
The deputy director of exams at the Examination Organization added that in his view, “it is worth cutting off internet nationwide for a few hours, because the fate of candidates is decided during those hours.”
This statement from the country’s education official comes at a time when continued severe internet filtering in Iran has caused significant financial losses to mobile phone operators and large companies whose main income depends on citizens’ internet consumption, and simultaneously, complaints from these companies to government institutions have gone unanswered.
Since the beginning of current nationwide protests from September 16 of this year, the Islamic Republic has severely restricted citizens’ internet access, including complete and periodic internet shutdowns and reduced speeds.
This shutdown or access restriction has continued after nearly four months, and after this long period, it appears to be the only solution found by the Islamic Republic’s security officials to silence the people’s voice.
However, the decision to completely cut off internet for the “entire country” during the entrance exam is new, and previously, the Islamic Republic’s officials, during the nationwide entrance exam in 2022, on the ninth and tenth days of June, announced that they would only cut off mobile internet access in areas near exam centers.
The decision to expand internet shutdowns for citizens during the entrance exam is being made at a time when in June 2021, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, then Iran’s Minister of Communications, while criticizing the blocking of 3G and 4G access at exam venues, said that the appropriate solution to increase exam security and prevent question leaks is to install “Jamr” at exam centers.
Jamr is a device or software that blocks signals or frequencies with limited range.
Although Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi had acknowledged to media that the cost of internet disruption is greater than the cost of installing Jamr, Examination Organization officials have not only continued to use the damaging method of internet shutdowns in exam areas, but now, according to the deputy director of exams at the Examination Organization, intend to implement a nationwide internet shutdown during the entrance exam.
The complete disconnection of Iranians from the global internet for the first time occurred during the widespread November 2019 protests, which lasted at least a week and plunged the country into complete communication silence.
According to MEHR News Agency, based on a decision of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, “the first phase of the 2023 entrance exam will be held on December 20-21 and the second phase on July 6-7, 2023, and finally this exam will have one admission in September 2023.”
Source: Radio Farda
