Trouble-beset exam platform ‘mystery’ deepens: minister dodges salient questions

Portugal’s Education Minister has again declined to identify the company or public body responsible for the digital platform used to mark this year’s national secondary school exams, as technical failures and delays continue to disrupt what is one of the country’s most important academic assessment processes.

The controversy centres on the digital exam marking system, which has been plagued by technical problems and is fuelling concern among students and families awaiting results needed for university admission.

According to Correio da Manhã, the Ministry of Education failed to answer questions on both Friday and Monday about who developed and/ or manages the platform.

The same issue was raised in parliament on July 1 by LIVRE MP Filipa Pinto, who asked Alexandre to identify the entity responsible. The minister did not provide a name.

At issue is whether EduQA — formerly the Institute for Educational Assessment (IAVE) — or another body within the Ministry of Education contracted an external company to develop and/ or operate the platform.

Opposition politicians are also seeking clarification over whether any such contract was awarded through a direct procurement procedure or a public tender – and whether it was published on Portugal’s public procurement portal, Base.gov (as it should have been…)

Axians denies responsibility

The last publicly-known contract linked to digital exam systems was signed on July 4, last year, between IAVE (the institute of educational evaluation) and Axians Portugal, part of the French VINCI which has the concession for running Portugal’s airports through its subsidiary ANA-Aeroportos de Portugal.

Axians however has distanced itself from the controversy, telling Correio da Manhã that its agreement with IAVE covered a different solution with a separate scope and functionality, and was not the platform that is now experiencing so many high-profile technical failures.

Students to receive free access to marked exams

In response to the disruption of recent days, the Ministry of Education has announced that every student will be able to access a digital copy of their marked examination free of charge – even if they do not request a formal review of their grade.

Fernando Alexandre said that when results are published on July 17, students will be able to verify that the correct exam was marked and see how each question was assessed.

The announcement was made during a visit to the exam processing centre in the Sintra area, where scanned examination papers are being prepared for digital marking.

Distribution delays continue

The digital marking process remains under pressure following repeated delays in assigning exam papers to teachers.

Speaking yesterday, the minister said around 70% of exam papers had been distributed, while the remaining scripts were awaiting revalidation after errors were identified during the scanning process. He said the outstanding papers were expected to reach teachers later that day.

The prolonged problems have disrupted the national exam timetable and heightened uncertainty for thousands of final-year secondary school students – many of whom depend on their exam grades to secure places in higher education.

What is seen as yet another government failure (without any humility to accept failure) has sparked outrage from teachers and parents, a number of whom are now demanding that the whole exams process for this year to be considered null and void, with no negative repercussions for students. A petition set up to this effect has already gathered over 5,000 signatures in not much more than 48-hours.

Source material: Correio da Manhã/ executive Digest/