In 2012, the administration of graduation exams was assigned to the State Examination Center (SEC). This decision was met with extensive and intense discussions. Mathematics and the Azerbaijani language were the primary subjects in the graduation exams. Various proposals were made regarding which subject should be the third.
Medianews.az reports with reference to "Azerbaijan Teacher" that this was stated by the Chairperson of the Board of the State Examination Center, Maleyka Abbaszade, at an event titled "Assessment of foreign language subjects at the complete secondary education level: new approaches and prospects."
She said that in that year, at the insistence of the Minister of Education Mikayil Jabbarov, foreign language was included in the list of graduation exam subjects:
"To be honest, I was against the third subject being a foreign language. Because some schools' certificates indicated that foreign language was not taught. There were even cases where this subject was taught for only one or two years in certain schools and then discontinued due to a shortage of teachers. Therefore, we did not consider it appropriate to include this subject in the list of graduation exam subjects."
According to the SEC chairperson, time has shown that including the foreign language subject in the list of graduation exam subjects was the right decision. Knowledge of foreign languages opens new opportunities and prospects in young people's future lives.