Poor education, or the pandemic? Abkhazia admits all applicants into university
Abkhaz State University has admitted all 668 prospective students who submitted applications, regardless of their entrance exam scores.
It was officially announced that the unusual decision was made due to the difficult situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
But unofficially, Vice-Rector Victor Malandzia commented that the real reason was the very low level of knowledge of most of the applicants.
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Schools in Abkhazia have been completely closed since March 2020 due to the pandemic. The republic was unable to organize a system of distance education.
In this extraordinary situation, the university decided to give everyone the opportunity to study for one semester. After that, the final decision on who will remain at the university will be made.
Since July 21, 2020, Abkhazia has been experiencing a new outbreak of coronavirus infections after it was announced just the day before that there were no more cases of infection in the republic.
Over the course of a few days, 17 new cases were recorded, and one of the patients died. The official cause of death was a massive heart attack.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in Abkhazia, 57 people have become infected.