SINGAPORE: Students had their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) mother tongue language oral exam delayed on Tuesday (Aug 15) after a lag in the online system, said the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB).
About 17,800 students sat for the oral exam on Tuesday and around 4 per cent – more than 700 – had their end time delayed.
The mother tongue language oral exams are conducted over two days, with Tuesday being the first day. There are two sessions each day that are scheduled to begin at 8am and 11am.
Some oral examiners in schools experienced a lag in logging into the online system, said SEAB in its statement on Tuesday night. The issue was resolved at 9am.
The PSLE oral exams are conducted in person in schools. Students view the reading passage and video online, before reading out the text and describing the video to an examiner.
Students’ marks are then entered into an online system.
“UNEXPECTED NATIONWIDE DELAY”
Schools across Singapore notified parents about an “unexpected nationwide delay” in the mother tongue language oral exam.
Some parents were told through online portals that the delay in “many schools” was due to an unexpected lag in the system. They were also informed that affected students may be dismissed later than usual.
Some schools reassured parents about the delay. Nan Hua Primary School said that “no child is disadvantaged by the delay”, while Raffles Girls’ Primary School said teachers ensured that students were “not adversely affected”. Students were also given snacks.
Those who reported for the second session also faced some delays due to the late start of the first session.
To reduce the impact of the delay, SEAB deployed more oral examiners to schools with a larger number of students.
“The usual rest breaks are provided for oral examiners, and schools also provided refreshments for the students,” said SEAB in its response.
“SEAB will work with schools to ensure that this situation is taken into consideration during the assessment of affected students’ PSLE (mother tongue language) oral examinations.”
The PSLE English oral exam was not affected, it added.