Turkey's grueling annual university entrance exams, which determine which institutions of higher learning students will be able to go to, are usually aced through practice and study. But allegations -- some of the politically driven -- have surfaced that some students may have taken this year's exam with the help of a code that would allow them to mark down the right answers, already leading to streets protests from students who are crying foul. From the AP:
Turkish prosecutors are looking into allegations of possible cheating and favoritism in a rite of passage for young Turks nationwide: the annual university entrance exam.The allegations were raised this week after a lawyer discovered a formula to reach the correct answers for multiple-choice math questions on one exam.
In a country rife with conspiracy theories, the discovery fueled suspicions by some media, students and teacher unions that the state agency which makes the exams devised the alleged code so that students deemed to be pro-government could score high points.
The government vigorously denied such a scheme, but the prosecutor's office in Ankara, the Turkish capital, launched a probe Wednesday into the allegations.
The scandal feeds into mistrust between supporters of Turkey's ruling Islamic-rooted party, which has a strong electoral mandate, and those who fear the government seeks to expand its power so as to undermine secular ideals protected by the constitution.
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