– We are positive about more digitization in schools, but then we also demand that they have thought it through sufficiently. That it is planned well enough, and that you have a plan b. That’s what Sivert Røymo, leader of the Student Organization in Møre og Romsdal, says. Pupils throughout the country experienced login problems when they were supposed to have exams on Monday morning. It was rectified after an hour and a half, but in Møre and Romsdal there was also a problem with the internet. This led to the exam being canceled for the upper secondary students. – We are always happy when the exam is cancelled, but it is a shame that it happens when the students have spent the weekend preparing, then everything is almost in vain, says Røymo, who believes that the entire exam system should be scrapped. Didn’t get an exam markFriday 12 May there was a problem with the Visma InSchool page, where students at secondary school and upper secondary school find out which subject they are going to take an exam in. It took around three hours before the system was up and running again. Without aidsFriday 19 May it was examination in Norwegian secondary school. Several students news has spoken to say that even then there were problems with logging in, and that many gained access to the exam too late. They also did not get access to aids they were entitled to, such as a dictionary. Trouble with exam pages On Monday 22 May, there was a problem with the Directorate of Education’s exam pages. It took over an hour for them to resolve the issues. Canceled exam In Møre and Romsdal there were also problems with internet access. And it ended with the exam being cancelled. Several days of trouble But also on Friday, when several of the final-year students at upper secondary schools throughout the country were to have exams in the Norwegian secondary language, they encountered problems. Phillip Unnersaker says that he has become skeptical of the system. Photo: Private – When we were about to start, we couldn’t get to the tasks. We just sat waiting and looked at each other, says Phillip Unnersaker, who is a student at Meråker upper secondary school in Trøndelag. After a quarter of an hour they got down to the tasks, but then they discovered that several of the aids they were supposed to use did not work. – We had problems with the Nynorsk dictionary that we had been told we could use, but we didn’t, he explains. Get help Unnersaker didn’t get onto the NDLA website either, and he wasn’t alone in that. Live Korsnes, who is in her final year at Haram upper secondary school in Ålesund, had her exam canceled on Monday, but on Friday’s exam she also did not have access to NDLA. – It was difficult, because it was my most important source of knowledge, she says, adding that the only aid she had was the Norwegian book. Live Korsnes is going to complain because of the problems she experienced on Friday. Photo: Synnøve Bostad Hersvik She says that she did not have time to finish the assignment because of this. Will complain Both Korsnes and Unnersaker believe the result of the exam will be affected by the system’s failure. Both have decided to appeal. – I have now sent a message to the principal and vice-principal to get information on how to complain. I know that this was a reason why I did worse, says Korsnes. – I have to. It is absolutely insane that things go so badly in the exam, says Unnersaker. Reported to the examination office Department director in the Norwegian Directorate of Education (Udir), Per Kristian Larsen-Evjen, says that Udir is not responsible for the aids to the students in the exam. – Dictionaries and NDLA are aids that the school owner chooses to have available for the exam. It is a shame if the pupils did not have access to these aids, he says. The principal at Haram upper secondary school, Jan Magne Helland, says that he has not heard of this, but that the student has the right to complain. – We will follow up, he says. Bjørg Sissel Kvannli, who is the principal at Meråker upper secondary school, says that there was a bit of a queue for some of the aids on Friday. – It probably applied to several schools. It has nothing to do with the individual school, but we have reported to the examination office in Trøndelag, she says. – Absurd that they should be assessed in the same way Tia and Mia are graduating students at Re upper secondary school outside Tønsberg. They have teamed up with three other classmates to write a letter with the heading “Cancel the exam!”. They have also experienced trouble both last Friday and today. The girls do not want to be identified by their last names, but news knows their full names. – The fact that some had access to aids, some had halfway access, and some had no access at all means that the exams were written completely differently. Then it is completely absurd that they should be assessed equally, say Tia and Mia. – Was this how you had imagined the exam to be? – No, absolutely not. We thought that since they have so much experience with exams and have had three years to plan this, that it would go much more smoothly than it did, they say. Furthermore, they say that several people at the school are concerned about how this will affect the chances of a study place after upper secondary school. – We have all seen Tik-tokers with thousands of likes from several people who want to cancel the exam. There are hundreds of comments from others describing their misery, they say, and add that they at least hope that the secondary objective exam will be removed. Can be canceled locally Tia says that people have experienced the exam differently, and that the problems have been different. Education director Morten Rosenkvist says that they will investigate this. – Now we do not have enough information to assess, but I see that there are various things about this in the media. Now we have to gather the whole picture to see what the differences consist of. But if it is the case, as has come out in some reports, that some schools have had a lot of trouble, then it will be possible to ask for a dispensation. This means that you cancel the exam locally. New exam on Tuesday Live Korsnes is one of those who hopes that there will be no more trouble with the system. She will have an exam in biology as early as tomorrow – At least then I hope that the internet will work. I am very dependent on the same not happening, she concludes. Live Korsnes is the daughter of an employee at news Møre og Romsdal. The person concerned has not contributed to this matter.
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Students at upper secondary schools throughout the country have had trouble with exams for several days – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
