– We are now sending an application for cancellation for the students who were sent home from the exam on Monday 22 May. It is very important that they get equal opportunities for further education in the future when their exam was not completed at all, writes county director for education and skills in Viken county municipality, Jan Helge Atterås, in a press release. Jan Helge Atterås is county director for education and skills in Viken county municipality. Photo: Vegard M. Aas / news The application will be sent this week. It applies to 397 students from Hønefoss upper secondary school and Ringerike upper secondary school who on 22 May were to take the exam in Norwegian main subject or other variants of the Norwegian subject at AKA Arena in Ringerike. Local problems with the network At these schools there were local problems with the network, in addition to the national problems with the Norwegian Directorate of Education’s login system. There were similar challenges which meant that the exams for the students in Møre and Romsdal were cancelled. The county municipality writes in the press release that an application is being made for both the cancellation of the exam and exemption from the requirement for the number of exams on the diploma. This means that the students do not get a new exam, but a separate note on the diploma. This is then approved and the students can apply for further education in the usual way. – We hope for a quick response from the Directorate of Education so that the students in question get clarification, says Atterås. Ringerike upper secondary school is one of the schools that struggled with local network problems. Photo: Maria Kommandantvold / news Asked for the exam to be canceled across the country Viken county council first asked the Directorate of Education to assess whether the exam should be canceled across the country as a result of the major technical problems. This was not taken into account. Only the Norwegian Directorate of Education can cancel the examination on the basis of formal errors during the execution. The county municipality writes in the press release that students who are not covered by the application that is now being sent, but who are considering complaining about the examination, do this to their local school. The schools must await further information on how these applications will be handled. More people may have their exams canceled On Tuesday morning, the Directorate of Education (Udir) could tell news that the system was up and running, and that upcoming exams would be carried out as planned. Morten Rosenkvist is director of the Directorate of Education. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news They are still considering whether more people should have Monday’s exam cancelled. – If people have had too little time, it is possible to make local adjustments. For example, if there have been challenges in schools on top of the login problems, says director Morten Rosenkvist. According to the director, Udir will spend two to three days getting a clear picture of how yesterday’s trouble has played out in the schools. It will then be assessed whether certain schools will have their exams cancelled. Have sent a report to the Ministry of Education On Tuesday afternoon, Rosenkvist confirms that they have sent a report to the Ministry of Education. – Transparency about what happened is important, and our most important task in the coming weeks is to ensure a good and safe completion of the exam, says Rosenkvist in a press release. – We apologize to every student and individual who was affected by the delayed login. It created an uncertainty on top of the exam nerves that were already there, says Rosenkvist. In the report, it appears that the Norwegian Directorate of Education allows for digital exams to be printed on paper in the event similar incidents like the computer problems on Monday happen again. – To ensure that the incident does not happen again, and for the sector to continue to have confidence in the systems and a digital exam, we therefore believe that it is necessary to reintroduce the printing and distribution of exams as a risk-reducing measure for the upcoming exam period, writes the Norwegian Directorate of Education in a briefing to the Ministry of Education.
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Viken requests cancellation of exams for 397 students – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
