Only 3 percent of school leavers in Ethiopia have won good enough grades to go to university, says Education Minister Berhanu Nega, who has called these latest exam results “shocking”.

No exams took place in the war-torn region of Tigray, where the federal government has not provided education for two years.

There was also controversy over the timing of the final exams for students living in areas which were heavily impacted by the civil war in the north of the country, including in Amhara where 12,000 students reportedly staged a walk-out.

Cheating and fraud have marred previous exams in Ethiopia, so this time they were held under strict supervision in universities across the country last October.

A new procedure will be put in place to get more students into universities with re-examinations in subjects with lower scores, Mr Berhanu said.
-BBC-