The government says that 77,000 of the 80,000 students enrolled in the digital ICT test have already passed the exam.

Education Minister Joao Costa said this Thursday that some 77,000 of the 80,000 grade 8 students have already taken the information and communication technology (ICT) digital assessment test.

“Until yesterday [quarta-feira]“We already had about 77,000 out of about 80,000 students” taking the test, the official said in statements on the sidelines of the “Skills Conference: Supporting Skills Development Through Reforms,” which took place this Thursday in Porto.

Additional information provided by the ministry clarifies that 77,294 students have passed the ICT test, and the digital exam can be taken by Friday, so the minister was convinced they would reach “all students” by that date.

“Yesterday [quarta-feira] we also had tests with a laboratory component in physical chemistry and a test in physical chemistry, and there we covered almost all students. Approximately 84,200 tests have been carried out,” added Joao Costa.

However, the official acknowledges that there are “specific reports of tests that were not carried out due to the strike”, noting that “in the first two to three days [houve] some technical issues that led to a change in the race schedule.”

“[Isso aconteceu] in less than 100 schools across the country out of the 811 groups that we have,” said Joao Costa, explaining that schools “are responsible for planning [e que] each school decides when to schedule the tests, and on the day of the test, it reports the data for that day to the national examining judge.”

While stating that he is “always concerned” when “the rights of students are violated”, Joao Costa also noted that the figures received by the ministry, “reported by schools, on strike commitment are very low”.

“I don’t think we’ll have that much of an impact. The fact that they have already completed 77,000 of the 80,000 evaluation tests planned in the field of ICT two days before the end (…) shows that the impact is not so big,” the official stressed.

The Institute for Educational Assessment (IAVÉ) schedule calls for Year 8 students to take the Observation and Scientific Communication Component of the Science and Physics-Chemistry Test on May 24, and Year 5 students to take the Portuguese test on June 2.

This is followed by tests in Science and Physical Chemistry (8th grade), History and Geography of Portugal (5th grade) and Mathematics (8th grade), and only on June 15 will the exams for the 2nd grade arrive in digital. format: the first Portuguese language and the study of the environment and June 20 Mathematics and the study of the environment.

The first digital tests were piloted by IAVE in 2018 with 8th grade students who took the math test, and last year they piloted 6,000 students in 2nd, 5th and 8th grades.

This year it will be the turn of a group of 9th graders to test the digital tests so that in 2024 they become universal for all 3rd cycle finalists.

This year, the 1st stage of the final exams for grade 9 will take place on June 16 (mathematics) and June 23 (Portuguese), when the national secondary exams will already begin.

The examinations of the approximately 150,000 secondary school students enrolled in the 11th and 12th grade exams begin on June 19 in Portuguese, Italian and Chinese subjects and end on July 3 in Descriptive Geometry A and History B.