National tests are canceled

The National Agency for Education intends that the next few days make a formal decision to cancel the remaining national exams in the spring.

At the Public Health Authority's press conference on Monday, Peter Fredriksson, Director General of the National Agency for Education, told about the decision:

- We were given an authorization last Friday to make decisions about how the school should do with the tests. The National Agency for Education will now decide that no more national tests will be held in the spring of 2020. The background is, of course, the consequences that the spread of infection has had for the school.

Peter Fredriksson also points out that the school is already full on dealing with the problems that have arisen as a result of the pandemic and that it will be difficult to carry out the tests in an equivalent way.

- We know that in high school, the school is run remotely. We also know that in primary school many teachers and students are at home for different reasons. We believe that it is difficult for schools to hold national exams.

Peter Fredriksson says that grades must nevertheless be set and that the teachers will have other basis for this work.

In a press release, the National Agency for Education lists three reasons for the decision to cancel the tests:

• The situation of the schools is very pressured in terms of the work of finding new forms of teaching and conducting business with changed conditions.
• The current situation in the school is very uncertain and the situation can change very quickly. Sending hundreds of thousands of samples to be taken care of by school personnel at this stage is not appropriate.
• The National Agency for Education makes the assessment that the tests could not fulfill their grade-supporting purpose if each individual principal or principal should decide when and if the tests should be conducted.