UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE FIASCO
110,000 answer sheets still unmatched, officials concede
Many students won't know test scores by April 30 deadline, Chaturon admits
Education bosses have admitted that 111,509 O-Net and A-Net answer sheets are still sitting unmatched with the students that filled them in. Caretaker Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang said it meant many students would not know their Ordinary and Advanced National Educational Test scores on April 30, the official deadline for the score announcement. "These answer sheets belong to some 15,000 students," the Office of Higher Education Commission (Ohec) secretary-general Pavich Thongroj said. The O-Net and A-Net scores are particularly important to students this year because they are the main criteria for university admissions. More than 320,000 students sat the tests. Earlier this month, the National Institute of Educational Testing Service (NIETS) twice voided the O-Net and A-Net scores it had announced because of the numerous errors. The Office of the Higher Education Commission then stepped in to review the answer sheets. The scores produced by Ohec and NIETS are now being compared to ensure maximum accuracy. Pavich said Ohec initially found up to 230,000 unmatched answer sheets but this number had been reduced to 111,509 yesterday and this should fall further by the end of the month. Students who receive marks of zero when the scores are eventually announced should contact NIETS within a week, he said. Pavich said NIETS would be responsible for complaints while Ohec would open centres where students with queries could check their scores. He could not explain why around 7,000 answer sheets had been attributed to students who did not register for the tests. The Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) said its list of Grade 12 students this year did not include the names of those who marked the 7,000 answer sheets. "They might have just walked in and taken the tests," said Obec deputy secretary-general Areerat Wattanasin. Observers have asked if confusing lists of registered students led examiners to allow Grade 11 pupils whose names were not included to sit the tests. It has been claimed that last minute exam location changes by NIETS caused many students to miss their tests.
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