Bieber fever halts Norway's exams

The 19-year-old Canadian pop star is scheduled to perform in the capital on April 16 and 17 - stoking fears that some children in remote schools will skip exams scheduled at the same time.

Bieber is extremely popular in Norway, where his free concert in Oslo last year resulted in dozens of injuries as teenage girls fought to get better glimpses of him.

To accommodate this Bieber-mania, five schools in the Alesund region - located 230 miles from Oslo - have rescheduled exams.

Kristin Halvorsen, Norway's education minister, said she would not intervene in the schools' decisions.

"I am concerned that students should be concentrating when they take tests and midterms," she said.

"The local schools have the responsibility to schedule the local mid-terms, and if they think there is any reason to change the dates, they have authority to do so."

She added: "We've all been 14-years-old and know that interests can be intense."
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