Thousands of Ethiopians Refuse to Sit National Exams

Thousands of students in the northern Ethiopian region of Amhara have walked out of the national school-leaving exams that determine their entry to universities.

Over 12,000 high school students refused to sit the exams, according to official figures.

A statement by the education ministry has not provided any reason for their refusal but it comes as authorities introduce ‘new measures to curb’ what they called “a rampant epidemic of cheating.”

Exam leaks have become common in recent years.

To limit the cheating, the government this year moved students – more than 500,000 in the first round alone – to different university campuses around the country. They were to be confined in the campuses for the exam period and prohibited from accessing mobile phones and 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.

BBC /Shakirat Sadiq