Newspaper “24 Hours” June 11, 2010
Author: Nino Barabadze

MES offers unical opportunity to the school children who could not pass external exams. School children will be able to pass failed exams the next year. At the same time, they will maintain all other grades, they received in other subjects in 2010.

Around 3000 school children applied for 2009-2010 school diploma exams. Experts think the reason is the new conception - students will have to cross minimal competency level from the next year in order to receive diploma. So, 11th graders who were 18, passed the exams of 12 grades (totally 8 exams) earlier. As it is defined, they passed all compulsory exams including 2 selective exams (One Natural sciences and the second from social sciences). Passing point in all subjects was 10 to 4,1. Besides the minimal level, 75% of the children couldn’t pass this level.

Dimitri Shashkini: These exams were carried out in the resource centers similarly as in National Examination Centers. Tests were published in fully confidential printing-houses. Tests were saved in the bank’s storages that were brought in examination centers in the presence of the General Inspection of MES and the Police. But around 75% were failed in these exams that mean school children often miss the lessons and do not study.

What is the reason the school children couldn’t pass the exams, where the tests too difficult?

Exams were not difficult. Mainly, basic questions were asked. But as the children miss lessons and study only some subjects with tutors, they couldn’t pass this barrier. As it seems parents thought their children would study only these subjects they will have to pass in unified entry exams and other subjects they would study at home.

I attended these exams in Batumi and discovered the problems in history and chemistry that really exist. For example, most of the students wrote Frankco was the President of France. Many of them wrote that Benito Mussolini was the king of Sweden, Nixon lived in Egypt and etc. One girl said, she was leaving for London to study and she wanted to pass 12th grade exams earlier. But she couldn’t answer that “Mein Kampf” was written by Hitler and not by De Gaulle.

It was very unpleasant when the school children wrote the first elected President of Georgia was Jumber Patiashvili in 1992. Which authorities came in 1917 in Russia is not a difficult question. Especially when the exam is carried out in quiz and possible answers are written. Child who does not know the formula of water and asks what Mendeleev table is. . think about the conclusion on your own.

Besides everything, these exams provoked protest. What is MES going to do?

School children were able to make complaints until June 7 according to law. Commission that is specially created to discuss these complaints will check if some mistakes were made by teachers during the correction and objective decision will be made as it happens during unified entry exams. But talking about abolishment of the results of chemistry and history is foreclosed. Blackmailing of MES is absurd. Period when children were receiving grades according to their calm mood is finished. It is un understandable why children or their parents need grades if they have no knowledge?

Parents and school children requested decreasing minimal level. . .

Children had to receive 4.1 from 10 points that means they had to know a bit more to receive 2.

What these children will have to do?

It is necessary that children attend the lessons, prepare for the exams and really study at schools. When the child passes an exam in chemistry, he/she has to know who Mendeleev was. But because the second level of the reforms has just begun, because we do not want to oppress children’s interests we will allow exception for these children. They will maintain scores in all subjects they crossed the minimal levels and the next year they will have to pass the exams they failed this year.