Students who do not pass the written part of their secondary-school leaving exams, known in Slovak as ‘maturita’, will not have to wait for another year to re-sit them, but will be granted a second attempt in September, according to a proposal included in the amendment to the Act on the Family approved in parliament on May 22.
While the legislation currently in place states that students are allowed to re-sit if they fail to pass the oral exam the following September, those who fail the written part have to wait until the next regular date set for tests.
The discrepancy between the two re-sit dates was first pointed out by the Sme daily earlier this week. It caused indignation among students and forced Education Minister Dušan Čaplovič to take measures to loosen the rules, allowing less successful students to re-sit their tests within a shorter time period. This year's maturita exams are the first in which the written part of the test is being given more importance, following legislative changes ushered in by former education minister Eugen Jurzyca (Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ)), the TASR newswire wrote. In the past, students were able to take the oral exam and pass the whole procedure even if they completely failed the written part. Under the new legislation, they need to acquire a certain number of points from the written part and then pass the oral test with grades of 1-3 in order to succeed.
It is estimated that approximately 1,000 students (out of around 57,000 secondary-school leavers) will not pass the test this year.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
