Second round of national exams delayed following digital marking hiccups

Portugal’s Ministry of Education has postponed the second phase of this year’s secondary school national examinations by four days after admitting that persistent technical problems with its new electronic marking system have disrupted the grading process.

The second round of exams, originally scheduled to begin on July 16, will now start on the afternoon of July 20 and run until July 24.

In a statement, the ministry blamed “computer difficulties in the electronic marking process” for delays that made it impossible to keep to the original timetable.

Officials describe the digital marking system as an “innovative and complex” reform that remains central to the modernisation of Portugal’s education system. However, they acknowledge that the technical problems have created “undesirable unpredictability” in the whole process.

According to the ministry, it would still have been technically possible to maintain the original deadlines, but only by significantly reducing the time available for teachers to mark examination papers.

The ministry said it was ‘unwilling to compromise the reliability, accuracy and quality of the grading process’.

Under the revised timetable, teachers will now have until July 14 to complete marking, instead of July 10 – while examination results will be published on July 17 rather than July 14.

An updated schedule for the second examination phase is due to be published later today by EduQA.

The Ministry stresses that the postponement will not affect Portugal’s 2026 National Higher Education Admissions Competition, with university applications still scheduled to open on July 20.

It has also apologised for the disruption caused to students, families, teachers and schools.

This carefully-manicured announcement represents the latest setback in what has become one of the most troubled examination seasons in recent years, following the government’s decision to fully digitalise all national secondary school exams for the first time.

Since the examination period began, schools have reported repeated technical failures affecting the distribution and electronic marking of exam papers, prompting criticism from teachers’ unions, school leaders and exam markers, who have argued that the nationwide rollout should have been preceded by more extensive testing and planning.

Education Minister Fernando Alexandre has acknowledged the difficulties and confirmed that the government will carry out a full audit once this year’s examinations have concluded.

The review will determine whether Portugal should continue with fully digital national exams or consider returning to the previous paper-based system, which many education professionals argue was more reliable and avoided the widespread disruption seen this year.

source material: CNN Portugal

Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.