Pupils at a high school in the Upper Palatinate have to repeat part of the English Abitur because the teacher’s exam papers were stolen. The previously unknown perpetrator stole the exams during a train ride, as the head of the Neutraubling high school (Regensburg district) confirmed to the German Press Agency on Tuesday.
According to the school director Elmar Singer, 19 high school graduates are affected, who now have to repeat the “Listening Comprehension” part of the exam next Friday – two weeks after the original date. “It is clear that this is an impertinence for the students,” said the high school director. Nevertheless, they would have reacted “understanding”. “There is no alternative to repetition. You can’t judge what isn’t there.”
The theft was also a “dramatic experience” for the teacher concerned, reports Singer: “It wasn’t her intention.” The school reported the perpetrator to the Federal Police. According to the headmaster, it was not easy to set a catch-up date for the stolen exams at short notice. Because the Bavarian Abitur tasks are compiled by the Ministry of Education in Munich, which also sets the examination dates uniformly throughout Bavaria. If everything goes well in the second attempt, the 19 Neutraubling students can receive their Abitur certificates as planned at the end of June.