Basque courts suspend zero grades in language exam for university access, EHU vows to appeal

The grading controversy

Dozens of students who sat the Basque Language and Literature II exam in this year's university access test (PAU) received a score of zero, triggering a legal battle. The zeros were concentrated in two of the 12 correction tribunals, with tribunal 11 recording the highest number. Most affected students came from model A schools (where Basque is taught as a subject, not a vehicular language) in the concertado sector. Families argued that a zero could only be justified if the exam was left blank, which they say did not happen.

Court intervention

On 29 June, several Bilbao administrative courts granted precautionary measures requested by the students' legal representatives. The rulings order the University of the Basque Country (EHU) to suspend the contested Basque grades when calculating access and admission scores for the appellants, and to reserve a university place for each while the case proceeds. The judges cited urgency because the pre-registration window closes on 30 June, and noted that a later favourable ruling would be ineffective. They also pointed to evidence that the anonymity of students and their schools may have been compromised during correction.

“We are very pleased that the precautionary measure has been granted, and we trust that the EHU will comply with what the court has established and allow them to enrol this afternoon and tomorrow.”

University pushes back

The EHU immediately announced it would appeal, calling the measure "impossible to comply with." The university stated that it does not reserve places outside the general access procedure, which allocates spots strictly by merit order. Rector Joxerramon Bengoetxea insisted that the correction process followed the Royal Decree 534/2024 and that individual student anonymity was maintained, even if examiners knew which types of schools were assigned to each tribunal. He argued that the court rulings rely on an incorrect assumption about his knowledge of any anonymity breach.

“What can be known is the type of centres that are in a particular tribunal; what cannot be known is which centre and which student is being examined. That is coded and therefore cannot be known.”

Deadline pressure and next steps

With the pre-registration deadline set for 30 June, the students' defence filed an urgent request for immediate execution of the court orders, warning of potential fines and criminal liability for disobedience if the university fails to comply. Education councillor Begoña Pedrosa had earlier called for reducing tension and improving exam procedures. The legal dispute now moves toward a substantive hearing, while the affected students await a resolution that will determine whether they can secure a university place under their original score calculations.