Drucker: Electronic Testing of School-leaving Exams to Be Held This School Year

Bratislava, 19 September (TASR) - Slovakia is fully prepared for the electronic testing of secondary school-leaving exams in the 2025/26 school year, Education Minister Tomas Drucker (Voice-SD) told a news conference on Friday, adding that the ministry is thus meeting a milestone from the recovery plan. In the spring, students will be able to choose whether they want to be tested electronically or in writing. The electronic secondary school-leaving exam will not be mandatory next year, therefore. It will only apply to the external (nation-wide) part of the school-leaving exam in the Slovak and Hungarian languages for now. "The electronic school-leaving exam means that students will no longer have to fill out a paper form but will be able to take the test electronically, on a computer," said Drucker. Ivana Pichanicova, the director of the National Institute of Education and Youth's (NIVaM) section of education assessment and monitoring explained that students will be able to apply to take an electronic school-leaving exam from 21 October to 11 November. "The platform will be open for students and schools. Students can try testing themselves in the system and decide whether to choose the electronic or paper form by 11 November," she said. Drucker claims that the biggest-ever digitalisation of schools is currently underway. They will be equipped with the latest technology worth €225 million. According to him, the ministry chose in a tender the most successful bid for electronic testing technology, which is used in more than 100 countries. It's a platform for electronic testing and is also used in PISA testing, noted Drucker. The ministry has signed a contract worth €7.5 million for five years, including for the operation of all licences and infrastructure. "This equals some 100,000 tests per year, which corresponds to the needs of our secondary schools, as the number of secondary school-leavers is some 40,000," said Drucker. ko/df