As of: April 16, 2024 4:14 p.m
After delays in the Abitur in Lower Saxony due to a break-in at a school, the Minister of Education in Hamburg wants to give all examinees equal opportunities. Some of those affected are allowed to repeat the exam.
High school graduates who were not given the choice of being able to write their exam in politics and economics on May 8th during the scheduled exam date last Thursday after the delays will have a new opportunity. Culture Minister Julia Willie Hamburg (Greens) said this on Tuesday at a press conference in Hanover. Because of a break-in at a school in Goslar, the written Abitur examinations in the subject of politics and economics were delayed or had to be interrupted throughout Lower Saxony.
videos
Some students had no choice
By the time the Ministry of Culture had made the exams, which were actually intended for the re-writing date on May 8th, available to schools for download, two hours had passed – in some schools even more. The ministry had asked schools to give students the choice of writing the exams on that day or on May 8th. However, according to the Hamburg Ministry of Culture, some of the schools did not allow the option. “The schools’ handling of this special situation last Thursday morning was very different and in some cases not optimal,” she said. Therefore, these affected students should now be given the opportunity to voluntarily repeat the exam on May 8th. If you decide to do this, your already written exam will not be corrected or evaluated; it will be considered not written, said Hamburg.
A school had forbidden exams written
The ministry also learned that a school had had the exam banned by the Ministry of Culture after the break-in written. These affected examinees would have to repeat the politics exam – also on May 8th, said Hamburg. She would be extremely sorry for the high school graduates. According to Hamburg, nothing will change for high school graduates who had the choice between April 11th and May 8th on exam day. Your exam will be graded regularly. Hamburg announced a new follow-up date for June 5th.
80 percent wrote the exam on April 11th
Hamburg was unable to provide specific figures as to how many examinees took the exam on April 11th. These would still be evaluated by the schools. According to initial estimates, 80 percent of high school graduates wrote the politics exam on April 11th, and around a fifth decided to take the follow-up date.
Abi exams should be encrypted beforehand in the future
In order to be better prepared in the future, optimizations are planned in the interaction between the ministry and schools, said Hamburg. “At the same time, we are ensuring that such cases do not repeat themselves in the future.” In the future, rewritten exams should be encrypted beforehand as a preventative measure. In this way, schools could receive replacement tasks more quickly in an emergency.
Ministry rejects raising grades
Hamburg rejected the demand previously expressed by the State Student Council for a one point better assessment of the written exams. The desire is understandable, said the Green politician. But if the ministry wants to improve the grades, there must be concrete reasons: either not enough time or tasks that are too difficult. “Both were not present in these Abitur exams,” said Hamburg. There is no way to award an additional point. Compensation for disadvantages was granted through the option of the second writing date on May 8th.
State Student Council calls for more compensation for disadvantages
For the State Student Council, the possibility of repeating exams is not sufficient. “We see the Ministry of Culture as having a duty to continue to think about compensating for disadvantages and to have measures in place at the latest when it becomes apparent that there will be a worse grade average,” said deputy chairman Matteo enemy.
After the break-in: high school graduates write a replacement exam
Because the examinees could theoretically have seen the tasks in advance after the school break-in, the ministry said it was forced to act. The primary goal was to ensure that the exams were not contestable, said Hamburg. Because this would have put all examinees nationwide at a disadvantage.
Further information
Keywords for this article
School
