‘While Science Board disapproves of even a pilot test, they will hold the real exam’

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Shortly after the first novel coronavirus (Covid-19) case was officially confirmed in Turkey on March 11, 2020, the high-school and university entrance exams were postponed till late July 2020 as part of coronavirus measures. However, after a while, another statement was made and it has been announced that the exams will be held in late June.

Accordingly, the High-School Entrance Exam (LGS) will now be held on June 20 and the Higher Education Entrance Exam (YKS) will be held on June 27-28 amid further normalization steps and an ensuing increase in the number of new coronavirus cases in the country.

Since the first day when the exams were announced to be held at an earlier date, students, their parents, education specialists and unions have been calling on the authorities to postpone them. They have launched campaigns on social media, signed petitions, but to no avail.

All in all, in a period when the Health Ministry's Coronavirus Science Board does not approve of even pilot tests to be held by large groups of students ahead of the real exam, 1 million 870 thousand 705 students will take the high-school entrance exam this Saturday (June 20).

Given that the number of new cases is also increasing day by day, what do the students and their parents want and feel? Should the exam be postponed or should it be held this Saturday despite everything?

Speaking to bianet, some parents want the exam to take place while others say that they will call for its postponement till the last day:

'Declare a curfew on the exam day'

Dilara Elmas/ Urfa: "We have been at home since the onset of the outbreak. My daughter studied all the time. We wanted it to be postponed till today, but it was not. Now, as we are so close to the end, we want it to be held as soon as possible so that we can finally feel relieved.

"My daughter does not want the exam to be postponed, either. She wants it to be held. She made so much effort for this, she has been only studying for months. Rather than cancelling the exam, a curfew should be declared on the exam day. After that, only the students who will take the exam and their parents should go out. Then, there should be a quarantine for them where their health conditions will be regularly monitored. The most plausible thing to do now would be this, I think.

"I am a citizen of Azerbaijan, there is no such an exam system there. I started primary school and kept studying there till high school. I went to the school in my neighborhood. But the children here are constantly driven into an exam and competition. It is something that impairs and wears out the mental health of children. I would like this system to change from the top to the bottom, but I know that it is not going to happen."

'My daughter is tired of studying for months'

Devrim Özder/ İzmir: "While the Science Board does not even let a pilot test, they are trying to hold the real exam, I really cannot make any sense of this. My daughter studied a lot, she wants the exam to be held and be finally over. The kid wants to get rid of it. 'I am tired, dad. I want to watch TV and go out,' she says. But, we, as parents, do not approve of an exam to be held in such an environment where the number of cases has increased to such an extent. We want it to be postponed.

"On Sunday, the scenes from the National Defense University (MSÜ) exam were reported in the press. It was crowded, there was no such thing as social distance. I mean, the measures were not observed as alleged. The high-school entrance exam will be much more crowded. We care about the health of our children as much as we care about their future. We are concerned."

'My child is at rock bottom'

Başak Çubukçu/ İstanbul: "Considering the morale and motivation of children, I do not want the exam to be postponed at this point. Because I can hardly keep my child at home now. They have not postponed the exam despite the insistence of parents, they should have - at least - initiated the normalization after the exams.

"Both I and my husband have chronic diseases. If my child carries the virus to the home from the surfaces that she touches and we get sick as a result of that, how will she feel? My child cannot put herself together, she would say, 'Why did I go to the exam in the first place?'. My child is at rock bottom, she cannot help worrying about this.

"The normalization steps were premature. The more the number of cases increases, the more concerned I get. If they make a statement tomorrow and announce that the exam has been postponed, I cannot keep my child at home for another two months. We do not know how the 14 days following the exam will pass in anxiety."

'It is not university exam, we have one chance'

Tülin Papila/ İstanbul: "I have a single child and she is now using antidepressants to overcome the exam stress. She looks calm but I do not know what will happen on the day of examination. Neither I nor my child can sleep for months. I was not using social media till this age, but I have now started using it to raise our demand for the postponement of the exam.

"I am writing to the Health Ministry, to the Ministry of National Education, I am making calls over calls, but to no avail. They do not want to hear. But I will keep making calls for postponement till the last day.

"I have been following virologists, Science Board members, public health specialists for months. All that I have read and watched suggest that the exam needs to be postponed. It is not the university exam, we do not have the chance to say 'If not this year, then the next year.' We have a single chance. But they force us to choose between the future and health of our children.

'I wrote to Presidency Communication Center'

Hakan Eken/ Ankara: "I have two children, one of them will take the high-school entrance exam while the other will take the higher education entrance exam. We had the greatest problem with distance education in this process. Distance education was already insufficient. We tried to compensate for its shortcomings with distance courses. But no matter how much we support them, they have difficulties in concentrating at home. They cannot get convinced that education continues.

"I wrote to the Presidency Communication System (CİMER) to demand the postponement of the exam. 'It will be evaluated the next time,' they responded. As the number of cases is increasing, it is still a serious risk even though measures are taken. No one can guarantee that our children will not get sick. We are concerned, but even if the exam is postponed, I do not know when it will be held as the things stand, because the number of cases is increasing with each passing day."

'Nothing will change even if it is postponed'

Mehmet Kaya/ Antalya: "My child was very independent in this process as he was away from school. He could not go out for months anyway. He went through quite a stressful process. I am trying to relieve him, what is important is his health. I tell him that he should not feel depressed even if he cannot pass the exam, I tell him that it is not a normal process that we are going through, but he is still anxious.

"His plans for the future will perhaps not come true for reasons that he cannot change and it troubles him. But even if the exam is postponed at this point, not much will change because the situation is getting worse with each passing day." (RT/SD)