Court rejects Education Ministry’s appeal over miscalculation at high school entrance exam

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

The mistake was discovered after parents claimed that the French and German-language tests had been wrongly marked. HÜRRİYET file photo

The Ankara District Administrative Court has rejected an appeal from the Education Ministry against a stay of execution for last year’s high school entrance exam results.

A huge scandal erupted when the Education Ministry admitted that the results of 718 students had been wrongly assessed due to a calculation error.

Ankara’s 18th Administrative Court had ordered a stay of execution for the results on Jan. 16, after main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Aydın Apaydın filed a collective complaint on behalf of students who were subject to the miscalculation. The court stated that even the smallest mistake had the potential to negatively affect many of the 1,112,604 students who passed the nationwide exam, known as the SBS, in June 2013. 

The mistake was discovered after parents claimed that the French and German-language tests had been wrongly marked, based on their own evaluations after the exam.

Following the verdict, Apaydın said the ministry should conduct a reassessment in order to correct the mistake.

A reassessment will likely mean that students may have to change the schools in which they were enrolled in September, almost six months after the start of the academic year. 

The SBS controversy is not the first nationwide exam scandal, as in 2011 the university entrance exams were marred by allegations that a code could be used to crack all the answers.