Over 700 pupils taking PSLE oral exams experience technical lag

[The_King]

 

 

SINGAPORE - About 700 pupils ended their PSLE mother tongue language (MTL) oral exams on Tuesday later than scheduled after some examiners experienced a lag when logging into the online examination system.

When contacted, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) said about 17,800 students sat the MTL oral exams on Tuesday, and the lag delayed the ending time of about 4 per cent – or 712 – of the candidates.

The issue was resolved at 9am, SEAB said, adding that the Primary School Leaving Examination English oral exam was not affected.

The MTL oral exams are conducted on Aug 15 and Aug 16, with two sessions per day that begin at 8am and 11am.

To reduce the impact of the delay, SEAB said it deployed more oral examiners to schools with a larger number of pupils. The usual rest breaks were provided for oral examiners, and schools also gave refreshments to the pupils.

“SEAB will work with schools to ensure that this situation is taken into consideration during the assessment of affected pupils’ PSLE MTL oral examinations,” a spokesman added.

 

 

A parent, who did not wish to be named, told The Straits Times that his son, a pupil at an established school in the east, was affected by the delay.

 

 

The father of two said the boy reported to school 15 minutes before the exams. And the man waited near the school for about 1½ hours past the scheduled end time before his son contacted him.

“I didn’t know what was going on, I was not given any information by the school. In fact, I was worried that something had happened to my son, until other parents in a group chat that I am in started questioning about their children’s delays,” he added.

“I became a little less worried after realising that other parents were experiencing a similar situation. Later, a parent wrote in the chat that a technical issue had occurred, hence causing the exams to be delayed.”

The son said: “I was upset as I had to endure feeling anxious for a longer period of time.”

A picture used by Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao on this incident showed a sign that was pasted outside Nan Hua Primary School, apologising to parents for “an unexpected nationwide delay” in the MTL oral exams.

“No child is disadvantaged by the delay. Pupils are given buns,” the note added.

In a screenshot seen by ST, a school in the north posted on Parents Gateway that the exams were delayed “due to some technical issues; as such, the examinations for the first session ended at 11.50am”.

It added that pupils in the second session started only at 12.15pm and apologised for the inconvenience caused.

[Bigbird]

Who is the MOE minister????

 

Sibeh Xiaxuay!!!

 

#songboh

Wahh.. today i hit quota criticizing poopies! can collect gst voucher liao!

 

hope dont get kopi samples!

Edited August 16, 2023 by Bigbird

[Homelander]

11 hours ago, Bigbird said:

Who is the MOE minister????

 

Sibeh Xiaxuay!!!

 

#songboh

Wahh.. today i hit quota criticizing poopies! can collect gst voucher liao!

 

hope dont get kopi samples!

 

[XianGe]

Oral exam leh.. is si gonna open mouth talk leh... How will lag? 

[aaur4man]

last time oral is tested by teacher leh

[coffeenut]

It's true I'm the free bun ..