Turkey's ÖSYM sends out apology email, but president express unease

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said it was a great deficiency for the ÖSYM not to provide students with enough booklets to replace inaccurate ones. DHA photo

The Student Selection and Placement Center, or ÖSYM, has sent an apology email to students in İzmir after incorrect booklets were distributed during a recent exam, yet the country’s president still expressed unease with developments.
The 500 students who sat the higher education license exam, or ALES, for the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at İzmir’s Dokuz Eylül University were unable to start the test at the scheduled time, 9:30 a.m., due to printing errors identified in their exam booklets, such as missing questions and disorganized pages. The exam’s monitors tried to replace the incorrect booklets but did not have enough reserves. They asked a neighboring university, Manisa’s Celal Bayar University, for extra booklets but were unable to supply them to all the students.
In response, ÖSYM sent a letter to the affected students, assuring test-takers that the issue was under investigation.
President Abdullah Gül told reporters on Monday that following the exam scandals, the idea that everyone was equal, whether the child of the prime minister or an ordinary citizen, was damaged, and that this was very upsetting to him.
“After this point, the judiciary will decide whether or not discrimination was at play,” added Gül.
Commenting on the issue, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said it was a great deficiency for the ÖSYM not to provide students with enough booklets to replace inaccurate ones.
The e-mail, sent out by ÖSYM head Professor Ali Demir, said the issue stemmed from a “printing mistake” and added that an investigation had been launched into the matter.