The Ethiopian Ministry of Education postponed the higher education entrance exam when part of it was ‘leaked’ early on Sunday. The Ministry decided to cancel the exam which was due to start yesterday morning after the English language exams were leaked on social media, Oromo Protests campaign.
The announcement came shortly before the test was scheduled to take place, and affected hundreds of thousands of students throughout the country. Minister of Education, Shiferaw Shigute earlier said that the alleged photos of the exam on the social media were not true and the exam would be administered in a transparent manner. However, he later admitted that the exam indeed leaked and was quoted as saying: “After a cross check, we decided to terminate the whole exam since we had no evidence that the other exams were safe.” He has since promised an investigation into the incident and vowed to bring to justice those who committed the “crime”.
Shiferaw has said he understands the decision to cancel the exam is unfair to the students, and will adversely affect all the students in obtaining their matriculation certificate. “We vehemently condemn the leaking of the exam and consider it an immoral act that hurts everyone. We apologise for all the students who were affected by it,” he said.
The BBC reported that people supporting the protests for greater rights for Ethiopia’s Oromo people are saying that they are responsible for the leak. According to the BBC, the activists said they wanted Oromo students to have more time to study for the entrance exams after their high schools had been closed for several months during a wave of protests at the end of last year and the beginning of this year.
The ministry of education has said that a plan for new exams will be announced soon.
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Matric exam postponed after paper “leak”
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