Questions for Baccalaureate exams will be stored at bank

The name, surname and code of the high school students will be imprinted on the Baccalaureate tests that will be taken at the end of the 2010 academic year. In a news conference, Minister of Education Leonid Bujor said the regulations concerning the holding of Baccalaureate exams contain seven new articles designed to ensure better organization and stricter control, Info-Prim Neo reports. “First of all, we will reduce the number of Baccalaureate centers, but the exams will be taken in another institution that the one where the student studied, as the previous years,” the minister said. For the first time this year, the student's work will be checked by at least two teachers who will countersign it. The term during which the grade on an exam can be challenged was extended from 24 to 48 hours. Also, the questions for the tests will be sent in a different way. Leonid Bujor said only that the test questions will not be sent by email as last year, but through the banking system, refusing to give details. “I can only say that neither the teachers, nor the heads of district education divisions or other persons will have access to the tests beforehand as earlier,” he said. The experts contacted by Info-Prim Neo presumed the questions for the tests will be stored at bank and taken only on the day of the exam. The procedure for retaking the exam will be also modified. “Only the high school students who will miss the Baccalaureate exams on health grounds or because they represented Moldova at international competitions and festivals in that period will be allowed to retake the exams the same year. The other students will retake them the next year,” Leonid Bujor said. In another development, the minister announced that no subject will be removed from curriculum in the 2010-2011 school year. Also, this will be the last year when the secondary school graduates will be admitted to higher education establishments.