Almaty's Narxoz University found itself at the center of a scandal over memes posted on social media. In images urging applicants to submit documents, the university joked about what one could do if they scored 49 points on one of the subjects in the ENT (Unified National Testing): fall into depression, become the subject of gossip, take a shower, or enroll at Narxoz. Social media users were divided in their assessments: some found the jokes offensive, while others saw nothing humiliating in them. In the end, the university had to delete the posts and apologize, reports infohub.kz.
One user was particularly displeased with the memes about what to do if you scored 49 points on one of the ENT subjects: fall into depression, become the subject of gossip, take a shower, or enroll at Narxoz.
"Instead of encouraging applicants, supporting them, and motivating them to score better next time, the university chooses to mock those who got 49 points on the ENT. 49 points is the result of one exam, not an indicator of a person's intelligence, abilities, or future," the woman wrote on Threads.
She also specifically condemned the joke about depression. In her opinion, mental health should not be a subject for humor.
Most commenters saw nothing humiliating in the post and noted that the meme about 49 points is widely shared by schoolchildren themselves.
"Narxoz posted a trending meme about 49 points on the ENT. It's not a study on the intelligence of applicants. It's not a statement that 'people with 49 points are stupid.' It's not an official assessment of students' abilities. It's a MEME. And the funniest part of this whole situation is that people are now outraged by the very existence of the joke, even though schoolchildren and applicants themselves mass-produce such content about themselves," wrote one user.
However, there were also those who found the post offensive. Users recalled tragic stories of teenagers committing suicide due to poor ENT results and urged never to joke about depression.
"Shameful. They've just decided to promote themselves through anti-advertising. Competition has already increased in recent years, including due to the single attempt at the ENT. Now, will they keep belittling people?" noted one commenter.
The university published an official comment on its page. In it, it reminded that it had deleted the post from all social media and assured that it would try to prevent such situations in the future.
"We sincerely apologize to everyone whose feelings may have been hurt or who experienced negative emotions because of its content. We take feedback seriously and have already taken the necessary measures," the comment reads.
In addition, a week earlier, university students were unable to remotely register for courses for the upcoming academic year. To resolve the issue, they had to come in person, which was difficult for many who had left for their hometowns. Later, Narxoz assured that the technical glitch had been fixed.
Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle wrote about a scandal at another Almaty university, KIMEP. A criminal record of one of the lecturers reignited a discussion about the professionalism of foreign educators in Kazakhstan.