Erdogan's 'Islamist Turkey' - Non-Muslims given zero on religion test despite exemption.

Erdogan's 'Islamist Turkey' - Non-Muslims given zero on religion test despite exemption.(TZ).

Non-Muslim students were given a score of zero on the religion test that is one element of the Transition from Primary to Secondary Education (TEOG) exam, despite being exempt from the test.

The first results of the new TEOG exam were announced on Monday by the Ministry of Education. The TEOG exam was adopted at the beginning of the 2013-2014 academic year as the new high school admission mechanism, replacing the Level Determination Examination (SBS) exam.

According to the TEOG system, eighth-graders take 12 exams on six subjects during the academic year. Students take six tests in the fall semester and the second half of the full complement of exams in the spring semester.

According to a report in the Habertürk daily on Tuesday, students attending non-Muslim minority schools were given a zero on the religious culture and moral knowledge test, one of the six tests held in the fall, despite not being required to take the test.

Non-Muslim students who accessed the online e-school system to learn their exam results on Monday noticed that the religion test was coded with the letter “G,” which means that the student did not take the exam.

They found out that they were given a zero score for the test, affecting their overall score by up to 33.34 points.

Several minority schools have sent a statement to the Ministry of Education objecting to the miscalculation and protesting the TEOG results as soon as they determined the mistake.

The Ministry of Education has launched an investigation and, according to the Habertürk report, Education Minister Nabi Avcı has ordered his top officials to correct the error.

A total of 1,250,000 eighth-graders took the fall series of exams. They were tested on Turkish, math, and religious culture and morality on Nov. 28. The next day saw the second session of the exams, this time on science and technology, revolutionary history and Kemalism, and a foreign language. The exams for the spring semester will take place on April 28-29.