Ekeomah Atuonwu
Thousands of students in the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia have skipped the national exams that determine their admission to institutions.
Approximately 12,000 high school pupils, according to statistics, declined to take the tests.
The education ministry did not give a reason for their refusal in a statement, but the move coincides with the introduction of “new measures” to stop what they called “a severe epidemic of cheating.”
Exam leaks are now a typical occurrence.
This year, more than 500,000 students were relocated by the government to other university campuses across the nation in an effort to reduce cheating. During the exam period, they were to be limited to the campuses and not be allowed to use their cellphones or the internet.
A second round of exams, for hundreds of thousands of students, was due to start on Thursday.
“Amid the new measures, a student was killed and some security forces were injured when violence erupted after students tried to stage a walkout in Amhara.”
Another student had died earlier when a bridge collapsed in a university campus in the country’s south.
The exams are not taking place in the war-torn region of Tigray, where the federal government has not provided education for two years.
