"This new system is a complete failure. It does not respond to the country's education reforms. It also fails to fairly assess students' academic performances," the network's president, Dr Kamolpan Cheewapansri, said yesterday.

If the system remained in place, it would cause damage to the country's education system as a whole, she said.

Kamolpan said she and 20 students would go to the Royal Household Bureau at 8am today to file the petition. Earlier this year, the university-admissions schedule was in disarray after the National Institute for Education Testing Service (NIETS) repeatedly cancelled its announcements of the O-Net and A-Net test scores.

Under the new university-admissions system, O-Net (Ordinary National Educational Test) and A-Net (Advanced National Educational Test) scores are used as key criteria when

students apply for seats at their preferred higher-education institutes.

However, education authorities plan to continue with the O-Net and A-Net tests for the upcoming admissions period.

Higher Education Commission deputy secretary-general Dr Jiranee Tantiratanawong yesterday said students could apply to sit the upcoming A-Net from December 21 this year to January 10 next year through www.cuas.or.th.

The A-Net will be held on March 3 and 4 next year.

NIETS director Utumporn Jamornmann said the O-Net would take place on February 24 and 25. She denied reports the O-Net might be postponed as the prolonged flooding had temporarily shut some schools.

"We have already consulted the Office of the Basic Education Commission [Obec] about the flooding problem. Obec has decided to dispatch more teachers to affected schools to help students keep up with the lessons required in their curriculum," Utumporn said.