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After a breakdown in the preparations for the Abitur exams in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ministry of Education reacted in the evening. According to a statement from the ministry, all exams will be canceled on Wednesday (April 19) and will be postponed to Friday (April 21).
Previously, there had been major problems nationwide when downloading the tasks. Among other things, school principals in several cities had confirmed that they could not download any tasks for the exams scheduled for Wednesday.
The notification from the Ministry of Education, which was only sent out about eleven hours before the first high school graduates started taking their exams, states that the download for six exam subjects was affected.
Abitur in NRW: exams in biology, chemistry, physics and more affected
In detail, it was about the subjects biology, chemistry, nutrition, computer science, physics, technology – in the basic course and advanced course. As the ministry writes, the technical fault “could not be remedied in time”.
The schools were “continuously” informed about the disruption and in the evening about the postponement. According to information from our editorial team, however, the ministry initially announced a decision for 7:30 p.m. The mail in which the postponement was then announced did not reach the school management until an hour later.
School and Education Minister Dorothee Feller said: “The disruption and short-term postponement of the Abitur exams is extremely annoying. The high school graduates have prepared intensively for their exams. It is all the more annoying that a problem with the download meant that the schools did not receive the tasks on time.”
The “massive disruption” will be “worked up intensively” together with the external service provider and “an exact error analysis will be prepared and the necessary consequences drawn from it so that the tests can be carried out without disruption on the following days”.
No Abi exams in NRW: “Muslims have to pay for it”
Sharp criticism came from the opposition. The minister informed about the postponement of the exam far too late, said the SPD member of the state parliament Dilek Engin. “This is really catastrophic communication behavior on the part of Ms. Feller. The teachers and high school graduates, especially the students of Muslim faith who celebrate the Sugar Festival on Friday, now have to pay for it.”
The nationwide download was opened by the ministry on Tuesday at 12 noon. However, many schools could not download the exams or only partially. (with dpa)
