National shutdown
Government of Iraq is imposing daily shutdowns during second stage of grade 9 school exams on 21 August 2023. The 4 hour shutdowns of access to the Internet affects everyone in Iraq, except Kurdistan region which had its own shutdowns as reported here. The local government belief that this will reduce cheating during high school exams. We have repeatedly written about here on Pulse, Internet shutdowns cause great harm to a country’s economy and society and are in our opinion NOT the appropriate mechanism to cope with potential exam cheating.
- Total Duration 4 hours
Iraq
- Population
- 45,074,049
Freedom House rates Internet freedom as Partly Free
Local impact
Government of Iraq is imposing daily shutdowns during second stage of grade 9 school exams on 21 August 2023. The 4 hour shutdowns of access to the Internet affects everyone in Iraq, except Kurdistan region which had its own shutdowns as reported here. The local government belief that this will reduce cheating during high school exams. We have repeatedly written about here on Pulse, Internet shutdowns cause great harm to a country’s economy and society and are in our opinion NOT the appropriate mechanism to cope with potential exam cheating.
Other supporting information
Government of Iraq is imposing daily shutdowns during second stage of grade 9 school exams. The 4 hour shutdowns of access to the Internet affects everyone in Iraq, except Kurdistan region which had its own shutdowns as reported here. The local government belief that this will reduce cheating during high school exams. The shutdown is visible on IODA graphs, Cloudflare Radar, and Google Transparency Report, as detailed in the graphs below.
Exam Schedule
Translated
| Day | Exam |
| 21 August 2023 | Islamic Studies and Arabic Language |
| 22 August 2023 | English Language |
| 23 August 2023 | Mathematics |
| 24 August 2023 | Social Sciences |
| 26 August 2023 | Human and Health |
| 27 August 2023 | Chemistry |
| 28 August 2023 | Physics |
| 29 August 2023 | French/Kurdish/Turkmen Languages |
Cloudflare Radar
Google Transparency Report
