I Survived a Week Without Internet — Here’s What It Taught Me About Exams, Politics, and Life
A story of Algeria’s internet blackout during the BAC exams, and how it reshaped my views on education, work, and resilience
One day around 2015, the government decided to end cheating in the BAC exam, the high school graduation exam similar to those in France and South Korea. So, they cut the internet. No one could connect for most of the day — a true nightmare for freelancers and remote workers with international clients.
Cheating
The story of nationwide cheating started for political reasons, they say. Some people or parties tried to show the ruling regime’s inability. This is a typical dirty political tactic used by both sides, not only the opposition. Everyone is held accountable for the future of these students. My sister, for her bad luck, took this exam twice in a row since the first one was considered void. The amount of pressure she had to endure was out of this world. I remember her not caring about the second time, which was a week after the first one.
Results
Even though the government controlled the process from start to end, these hidden hands, as we like to call them, meddled with everything. Prior to my year of graduation, when someone said, “I got 12 out of 20,” most people were in awe. When I graduated in 2008, it was the start of new changes. They wanted to prove that the new education program or system was better, so they inflated the results. The inflation happened because of multiple factors throughout the exam’s phases. Fast forward to today, this exam has lost its value almost. No one cares if you pass it or not. Even though the majority still consider it a sacred checkpoint, some people even kill themselves for not passing or die out of panic. Sad, but true.
University
Unlike some countries where high school graduation is measured like other years of education, here, the BAC is everything. In the US, there are the SAT and ACT, but I am not sure if they are required by all universities. From anime, I remember students preparing for their high school graduation while also preparing for university entry exams, making the process decentralized. Every university tests on what they think is worth testing. Unlike the BAC or Le BAC, you have to take every single module you had in your last year. If you didn’t, forget joining any kind of university. Nowadays, some private universities have emerged, but even after paying a big fat tuition to join them, you must have the BAC.
We start applying to universities after passing this exam through a site managed by the Ministry of Higher Education. An algorithm takes the choices the new graduates made and, with some magic, the results decide their future. I had the privilege to work with the team responsible for the servers of this process. It was hosted at our university. The person who implemented the algorithm was from there, and we had the chance to hear some history behind it as well. The current version is more developed. However, most people, when they see the results, claim that someone tampered with them.
Nowadays, universities with good computer science programs or a reputation for offering good programs usually accept students with scores of 17 out of 20 or even 18 out of 20. If you have less than that, you are not accepted. They give you your second or third choice or even worse, something random with available places. Last year, when I checked, your choices were limited based on your score, so you couldn’t choose something out of your league.
Why am I writing this?
I don’t know, to be honest. I had to spend the day away from my office since the disruptive internet cuts wouldn’t allow me to work. In this era, you can’t do anything without having your machine connected. Last year, I was surprised at how dependent I was on this connection to the extent that I couldn’t do anything since everything I do was through a browser in a remote workspace hosted somewhere in this world. I reduced my dependency from last year, but I still can’t do proper work without having internet on command at any moment. It is a sad thing to live through. However, I am not working these days. I decided to make these days a yearly holiday to enjoy other things and take care of what matters rather than fighting for no reason.
Finally
If you are an Algerian like me, please don’t bash me for what I stated here. If you have something to say, say it with respect, and let us live through these holy (first ten days of Dhu al-Hijja), hot (literally, it’s above 40 degrees here), disconnected (you know what I mean) days in peace.
