Gold medals to ease entrance exams for Azerbaijani graduates

Students who graduate from school with a gold medal will be exempt from having to write entrance examinations in higher education. For admission they will only need to pass one exam in their chosen specialty. This is stated in the new draft law on General Education, which was submitted for discussion at today’s plenary session of the Parliamentary Committee on Science and Education.

Gold medals will only be awarded to secondary school graduates who have excellent marks in their senior certificate.

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Standard university application process

Applicants fill out a form in which there is a list of faculties they may enroll in. They then pass a written exam in several subjects and, depending on their score, are credited to one of the faculties. If they score too few points they are not credited anywhere, regardless of having a gold medal or not.

Another form of bribery

The news was met with caution on social networks:

“What a mess… it is basically just school principals selling gold medals for extra money.”

“They wanted almost $300 for my niece’s gold medal, and next year they will probably ask $30,000.”

“Just like in the times of the USSR. There used to be the same rule back then.”

The bill also includes rules covering basic education. For example, all schoolchildren are to wear a specific style of uniform set by the Ministry of Education. The rule for wearing school uniforms in Azerbaijan has existed for a long time, but not all schools follow it.