The Members of the Bulgarian Parliament rejected Wednesday the proposal of the opposition Coalition for Bulgaria to appoint a special committee to investigate alleged violations of the high-school exit exam.

The move came on the heels of numerous media reports last Friday that the exam’s themes, questions and answers have been traded for BGN 600, citing high-school seniors, parents and teachers.

According to the reports, around 11 pm on the night before the exam, a lecturer from the University of Sofia, who also gave private lessons to students, sent them a short text message (SMS) with the 3 possible versions of the State exam. One of them had been drawn out on the morning of the test. It remains unclear if the versions in the remaining 2 envelopes match the ones from the SMS.

Education Minister, Sergey Ignatov, said Saturday he is not at all worried about the matriculation’s security, adding he stayed with his experts late into the night Friday to discuss how the CDs with the exam’s themes could have been hacked and reached conclusion this would be highly impossible.

Ignatov, who is not rejecting the possibility the allegations have the goal to discredit him over the controversial education and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences reforms, further stated that regardless of the outcome of the police probe, the exam would not be annulled and rescheduled.

On Wednesday, Ignatov's Deputy – Milka Kodzhabashieva, reiterated the Ministry's probe had not revealed anything alarming. Talks were held with all 5 employees, who had access to the exam, and they did not reveal any violations.

Kodzhabshieva, however, pointed out the Ministry is anticipating the results of the separate police investigation, but explained she had not yet been questioned, despite the fact she would be the first person who will need to offer explanations.

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