Students in predicament as coefficient war drags on

The ruling sparked outrage among most observers, who argue that it is aimed at retaining the remnants of the Feb. 28 postmodern coup. The coefficient system was introduced in an attempt to keep students from religious imam-hatip high schools -- classified as vocational schools -- out of universities. The system has been the subject of strong criticism in Turkey as it is clearly unfair toward graduates of vocational schools, which have a curriculum to provide additional education to students, who want to study at universities.

YÖK is set to appeal the Council of State ruling tomorrow, but it will not be certain any time soon how the examination scores of graduates of vocational schools will be calculated.

Hıdır Dinçer, the director of the Şirinevler branch of the FEM Dershaneleri (private schools that offer college prep courses), told Sunday’s Zaman that the coefficient decision had highly disappointed vocational school students. “For the first time, those students were hopeful that they would enroll in university programs of their choice. They enrolled in dershanes to make their dreams come true. The Council of State ruling, however, made most of them give up their hopes,” Dinçer noted.

Students now pin high hopes on YÖK head Yusuf Ziya Özcan to settle the coefficient controversy, according to Dinçer.

Özcan announced last week that his board would seek solutions to the problem as YÖK had prepared alternative methods for eliminating the coefficient system.

Most students are, however, not very hopeful as this is the second time the Council of State has upheld its coefficient decision. In a landmark move last July, YÖK decided to totally abolish the coefficient system. It was regarded as a “groundbreaking” move to eliminate inequality between graduates of vocational schools and all other high schools in Turkey.

Shortly after the YÖK decision, the İstanbul Bar Association asked the 8th Chamber of the Council of State to ensure that the coefficient system remains in place. In late November, the court ruled to retain the system, arguing that the abolishment of the coefficient system would damage the integrity and harmony of the Turkish education system.

“I will drop out of school if the coefficient uncertainty is not resolved. Under the current system, I will not be allowed to pursue my education at a university despite my efforts. If so, why should I continue struggling?” asked Mehmet Özdemir, who enrolled in the İncirli Vocational High School upon the insistence of his father. The father, Vedat Özdemir, said he decided to send his son to a vocational school in order to enable him to acquire better professional training. “I have only one son. He wants to become an electrical engineer. I made him enroll in a vocational high school, but I regret my decision now,” he said, adding that his son was at first reluctant to comply with his father’s wishes.

An overwhelming majority of vocational school students come from middle-class families which send their children to those schools to enable them to acquire a profession as soon as possible.

Most of the students, however, regret their decision to enroll in vocational schools after they realize that they will almost never have the chance to enroll in a university program.

A similar intra-family conflict has been witnessed by the Elmas family. Durmuş Elmas urged his son Emre to enroll in a vocational high school to become a lathe operator, like himself. Emre, however, changed his plans for the future after a few months at the school and now wants to pursue a career other than lathe operation at a university. However, he has almost no chance to do so due to the coefficient system.

“My son is no longer willing to attend his school. I fight with him almost every day over this. No one has the right to make our children’s lives miserable. What are we to do now? Should we take to the streets and stage demonstrations?” Mr. Durmuş asked.

Turkey has been witnessing protests across the nation since the coefficient ruling. Numerous civil society organizations spilled into the streets and expressed their anger at the controversial decision.

Many vocational high schools students who joined the protests argued that the Council of State sees them as “second-class citizens.” Orhan Gazi Ertekin, co-chairman of the Democratic Judiciary Association, warned that the court decision could spark a dangerous “class conflict” in society. According to Ertekin, denying someone the ability to make their own decisions in life over a choice they made when 14 years old (when students enter vocational high schools) means denying this person their fundamental rights and freedoms.