In the 2020-2021 academic year, all but two universities announced that courses and exams would continue online: Bilkent University and Atılım University. 

The students of the two universities made a joint statement and urged the university administrations to withdraw the decision and to switch to an online system instead of putting students and their families at risk. Bilkent University listened to the voices of the students and withdrew this decision, but Atılım University has started to apply the exams face-to-face.

Recently, Atılım University students announced the situation experienced in the classrooms where they took face-to-face exams on social media with the hashtag #AtılımOnlineSınavİstiyor (Atılım University students want to take the exams online). The students stated that students with high fever were also taken into classes and that measures such as social distance were not taken.

“My friends, whom I sat side by side with the day before, felt ill and stopped coming to school the next day.”

Speaking to Fundanur Öztürk from BBC, students say: “The courses I attend are for 16-20 students, but this number exceeds 50 in the exam. “My friends, whom I sat side by side with the day before, fell ill and stopped coming to school the next day. Students who have come into contact with covid-positive people attend classes, because in the last year, the applied courses were taught in the laboratory and they have to attend these classes.

Windows must be open during both the courses and the exams. That’s why we sat with coats on but it didn’t help. It was very difficult to follow the courses with a mask, and it was cold. imagine your hands are frozen in the exam. It did not change no matter how much you dress. It was maximum 3 degrees here in the morning. “

Disciplinary Penalty for the Students Who Object

It was claimed that 28 students who objected to the exams being conducted face to face and the exam environment not being suitable for the epidemic measures were given disciplinary punishment. The students shared their experiences from Medyascope to Hazar Dost: “No measures were taken during the exams. Classes were not cleaned. The security guards paid no attention to the students with high fever saying; “It happened because you were in the car.’”