Şanlıurfa Youth Sues OBP System in Turkey's 2026 University Entrance Exam

While candidates for the Turkish National University Entrance Exam (YKS) in 2026 are undergoing the final stages of verifying their educational information, a legal action by a young man in the southeast of the country has brought the debate on educational justice back to the headlines. Abdullah Güner, a graduate of the Imam Hatip High School in the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa, claims that the current system of calculating the GPA score infringes upon the rights of public school students [1].

Details of the Lawsuit Against the OBP System Abdullah Güner, participating in the YKS for the third time, sent his request to the Ankara Administrative Court via the Şanlıurfa Administrative Court. In this petition, he requested the suspension of the "Secondary Education Success Score" (OBP) system and the cancellation of its impact on the final exam ranking [2]. According to him, this system not only eliminates fair competition but also violates the equal educational opportunities guaranteed in the constitution.

The young candidate stated in a declaration: "I have filed this lawsuit not just for myself, but on behalf of thousands of students who fall behind their actual rankings due to unfair GPA scores" [1].

Grade Inflation in Private Schools; The Root of Protests One of the main axes of this case is the claim of "grade inflation" in non-profit and private schools. Critics and the plaintiff believe that some private schools record diploma grades unrealistically high without actual evaluation to increase their students' chances of admission [3]. Meanwhile, in public schools, grades are recorded based on stricter standards.

The OBP system can add between 30 and 60 points to a candidate's final score. This point difference in a high-population exam like YKS can shift a candidate's rank by tens of thousands of places. Güner believes this situation causes public school candidates, even with brilliant performance in the written exam, to fall behind private school students with "inflated" averages [2][3].

Sensitive Timing and Waiting for the Court Ruling This lawsuit comes at a time when the Assessment, Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) has set the period of June 23 to 30, 2026, for candidates to check and verify their OBP scores. Given that the 2026 exam results are scheduled to be announced in mid-July, any stay of execution ruling could pose a major challenge to the university selection and admission process [1].

Abdullah Güner emphasized that if he does not receive a positive response from the administrative courts, he will take the case to the Constitutional Court of Turkey to defend the educational rights of the younger generation [3]. Educational experts believe this case could increase pressure on the Ministry of National Education to reform the grading structure and create a national standardized evaluation system in high schools.