Traditional "maturita" exams will be scrapped this year. (source: SME)
Secondary school graduates will not take their final exam, known as “maturita” in Slovak, this year.
After the Education Ministry cancelled the external part of the exam earlier this year, it now decided on scrapping the internal part as well.
The decision was adopted due to the current developments with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Given the bad pandemic situation, several schools in Slovakia have been closed for a long time,” Education Minister Branislav Gröhling (SaS) said. “This complicates the situation of secondary school graduates and their preparation for the exams.”
A similar decision was made last year.
How it will work
The ministry officially cancelled the written part of the internal exam. As for the oral part, the grade that will appear on their final school report will be calculated as an average of the school year’s end grade, from all previous years and the half year’s grade, from the last two years in a respective subject or a group of subjects.
In the case of eight-year grammar schools, the final grades from the final four years and the grades from the half year of the last two years will be taken into account.
“The maturita grade will reflect the students’ work and their continual results during their entire studies at secondary school,” Gröhling added.
By May 3 secondary school principals should determine the group of related subjects that will be included in the final evaluation. The schools should complete the classification of the final school report by May 10, and students are expected to receive their maturita grades from the selected subjects by May 19.
If students want to improve their grade, they will be able to ask for a traditional oral exam, the ministry said. These exams should take place from May 31.
