According to the recommendation of the education task force, only the written part of the final examinations would be held this year, the Minister of State for Public Education said at the online press conference of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic held on Thursday. He said the government is expected to decide on recommendations at its meeting next Wednesday.

Zoltán Maruzsa stressed that final examinations must be organised in such a way that, in addition to public education standards, they should also conform to the disease control situation, people’s expectations regarding safety, and the fair implementation of admission procedures in higher education.

Examinations involving minimal face-to-face interaction must be organised for those taking their final examinations this year, he highlighted, also stressing that taking final examinations is not compulsory for anyone who is not planning to continue their studies this year.

He said, therefore, based on the recommendation, no oral or practical examinations will be held, only written ones. As a result, it is possible to reduce the number of examination events to one half, and all of them could be conducted within just 14 days. There will have to be a distance of one and a half metres between all individuals concerned, and there can be maximum 10 persons in any one room, he pointed out.

In continuation he highlighted that oral examinations would only be held in the case of subjects where this was the only option and for students with special educational needs who are exempted from written examinations. This would mean 4,500 examination events instead of 320,000 oral examinations, he said.

According to Mr Maruzsa’s information, their recommendation also includes the abolition of higher-level examinations before the acquisition of a final examination certificate. This would affect 30,000 of 113,000 final examination applications, and so there could remain maximum 73,000 students taking their final examinations, he indicated.

Regarding the timing of the examinations, he said if the epidemic situation deteriorates, examinations will be scheduled for the earliest possible dates, while if it improves for the latest possible dates in May and June. At present, they are planning to start examinations on 4 May, Mr Maruzsa said, also drawing attention to the fact that the cabinet will decide about the task force proposals at its meeting to be held next Wednesday.

Outlining the international situation, the Minister of State further highlighted that European countries will either issue certificates with marks calculated from the year-end results, or will hold technically simplified, shortened examinations. According to his information, the majority of EU Member States have not yet adopted decisions about the technicalities of final examinations.

(Ministry of Human Capacities/MTI)