Turkish students nationwide take exam

ANKARA-Hürriyet Daily News

Around 250,000 exam officials were on duty for the University Entrance Exam.

Over 1.8 million students across Turkey took the University Entrance Examination (YGS) yesterday in nearly 100,000 exam halls.

Around 250,000 exam officials were on duty for the annual test, including more than 13,000 police officers. A total sum of 1,837,000 candidates aspiring to enroll in the country’s institutions of higher education sat the test in 160 exam centers in all provinces and many districts across Turkey, as well as in the Turkish Cypriot capital of Nicosia.

The exam started at 10 a.m. and lasted for 160 minutes, according to reports.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last week that the YGS would be scrapped and that the thousands of private teaching centers that prepare students for the test would also be closed down.

Ali Demir, the head of Turkey’s Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM), however, has cast doubt on the viability of the prime minister’s pledge to abolish the YGS, citing the country’s growing population.

“The exam is inevitable in countries like ours where demand and supply are out of balance. A very large young population is Turkey’s reality. This actually shows our potential. I think that such competition should not be the subject of much concern,” Demir said last week.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old student Damla Orhan died of a heart attack ahead of the YGS. A relative of the girl attributed her death to stress brought on by the exam.