When the Swedish National Audit Office published its review results on Thursday morning, the public debate took off at lightning speed.
For the National Agency for Education, the criticism was that the authority did not control and follow up on what grounds schools excluded a relatively high proportion of students from the knowledge measurement.
Representatives of the political opposition mainly accused Minister of Education Anna Ekström (S) of having deliberately contributed to giving a beautified picture of Swedish students' level of knowledge.
But the Swedish National Agency for Education and its director general Peter Fredriksson were also questioned.
Distortion
On Monday, the National Agency for Education published a longer comment with the message that debaters have drawn too much gear on - or distorted - the National Audit Office's criticism.
- The National Audit Office does not make any assumptions at all that it would be mold, cheating or tricking with the numbers.
You can believe that when you take part in all the reactions, says the National Agency for Education's CEO Peter Fredriksson.
He emphasizes that the National Agency for Education has no objections whatsoever to the criticism the National Audit Office gives to the authority.
- We agree that we should sharpen our education for the schools and follow up the proportion of excluded students, he says.