National exam results “may not be ready tomorrow”, after all

Education Minister Fernando Alexandre has admitted this morning that publishing the national exam results tomorrow, as per the latest deadline, may not be possible.

The problem, he says, lies with a lack of ‘marking teachers’ available.

Appealing to teachers (who up till this point had no idea they would be called for this process) to ‘make the effort’, minister Alexandre has shown that the constant refrain that ‘everything is on track, in spite of the technical constraints suffered over recent weeks’ is not actually the full story.

Talking to journalists this morning, Fernando Alexandre said: “We are in the final stretch to be able to publish the results of all national exams tomorrow”, but: “We are not able to close the exams because there are no marking teachers available”.

The biggest bottlenecks remain in Portuguese and Mathematics, he said, although other subjects are also still awaiting final corrections.

The minister said 373 responses remained to be marked in Physics and Chemistry A, while 584 responses were still outstanding in Biology and Geology.

Rejecting suggestions that he was blaming teachers for the delays, Alexandre said: “It is not the teachers’ responsibility. I am asking for teachers’ collaboration” – adding that the National Exam Board has reported difficulty finding enough teachers available to complete the remaining work.

Despite the disruption, the minister confirmed that the same digital system will be used during the second phase of national exams, opening shortly.

He stressed that technological problems experienced in recent weeks “have now been resolved and will not be repeated.

“All the technological problems have been corrected,” he said. “At this moment, the obstacle we have is the marking by teachers, which is why I am asking for an additional effort.”

As to the risks that results could be delayed again, he said: “There are always risks” (echoing the prime minister’s stance yesterday).

Once the exam process is over, “there will be an audit, there will be accountability,” he promised.

It goes without saying that opposition parties have reacted in disbelief to this latest bend in the road, while protests on this whole process are taking place in Lisbon today.

Source material: SIC Notícias

Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.