Out of the 19,000 high school graduate who took the nationwide tertiary exam, "Kankour," for entry into the evening class programmes across the country on Friday, only 8,000 will be accepted. Cheating and score manipulation was a hot-button issue surrounding the examination.
Obaidullah Obaid, the Minister of Higher Education, said that over 22,000 students applied for the evening courses this year, which are provided by 11 faculties at universities across the country. Out of that 22,000, only 19,000 were eligible to continue to process and take the Kankour exam. Mr. Obaid said the top-scoring 8,000 students would be accepted to universities across the country, about 2,000 of which would be admitted into three universities in Kabul.
The Minister said that this year's entrance exam for evening programs would be held in the universities of seventeen provinces, an increase from last year in the hopes of making the process more accessible.
"So far, it [the exam] has been conducted in thirteen provinces and the rest would be held soon," said Obaid.
Meanwhile, a number of students criticized the entrance process for the government-run higher education system. They claimed that people with political connections often meddle with the examination procedure.
Common abuses of the Kankour exam reportedly include, but are not limited to, the selling of exam questions, the manipulation of results documentation, and various other forms of cheating during the exam itself.
In light of the issues raised by students regarding the integrity of the process, Muhammad Akbar Arezomand, Director of Kankour Exam, assured that this year the exam would be conducted in a transparent manner and steps have been taken to avoid abuses.
"We have adopted latest technology to prevent any cheating," said Mr. Arezomand.
Earlier in March this year, over 500 hundred students protested in Kabul city over alleged fraud in the Kankor. The students called for the government to appoint a delegation to investigate the Kankor Commission over the alleged fraud.