National shutdown
Internet Services
The Syrian government intentionally shut down the internet during the official high school exam period to prevent cheating and the leakage of exam questions. This measure was announced by the Ministry of Education and implemented by Syrian Telecom, the state-owned telecommunications company. The internet was shut down from 4:00 AM to 8:00 AM local time on exam days (except for August 28, 2020, when there was no outage).
- Total Duration 4 hours
Syria
- Population
- 25,620,427
Freedom House rates Internet freedom as Not Free
Related documentation
The Syrian Telecommunications Company announced an intentional nationwide internet blackout during the National Secondary Education Certificate exams in August 2020. At the request of the Ministry of Education, internet service was disrupted to ensure the smooth conduct of examinations and prevent potential cheating or leakage of exam questions.
The interruption began on August 22, 2020, and continued until August 31, 2020, with the exception of Friday, August 28, 2020. The schedule for the disruptions was as follows:
- August 23, 2020 (Sunday): Internet service was interrupted from 4:00 AM to 8:00 AM local time.
- From August 24 to August 31, 2020: Internet service was interrupted from 1:00 AM to 9:00 AM local time on each exam day.
The decision was made to align with the official exam schedule published by the Syrian Ministry of Education:
Other supporting information
CAIDA IODA
GOOGLE TRANSPARENCY REPORT
