Alba County Inspector General of Schools, Cornel Sandu, revealed at a press conference that questionable practices are observed in educational institutions, both in rural and urban areas. These actions aim to manipulate the results of the National Assessment, a crucial exam for students.
The representative of the Alba County School Inspectorate points out that certain educational units employ methods to distort performance in the National Assessment. Among the tactics is the alleged counseling of low-performance students so that they do not appear for the exam, or even the intentional omission of their development.
“There are schools that postpone recovery assessments to the 8th year, in order to prevent these grades from negatively impacting the general averages of the National Assessment”, declared Cornel Sandu during the press conference, emphasizing that this scenario is repeated in rural locations and urban centers.
Furthermore, Sandu indicated that some schools encourage students with poor performance not to register for the eighth grade final exam. This guidance occurs despite the fact that participation in the exam gives priority in the computerized system for distributing places for secondary education, which could harm the academic future of these young people.
“There are institutions that advise young people not to take the National Assessment, even though they know that participation guarantees priority in the distribution of places at national level, without distinction of their socioeconomic origin”, added the inspector general, highlighting the potential harm to students.
For Sandu, the recent changes in the admission model, which now direct all places to secondary education, reduced the benefit previously enjoyed by students who participated in the exam. However, the priority still exists, even if common perception may indicate otherwise.
“Currently, the advantage of having taken the test does not manifest itself in the same way, since all admission opportunities are for high school and there are no more places in vocational schools. Despite this, participants in the National Assessment maintain a preference in the process”, detailed the inspector general.
As an illustration, he cited a class of ten graduating students, of which only four enrolled in the National Assessment, and all those enrolled passed the exam.
“Why didn’t the other six register? Because they were told: ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get in anyway. There’s no need to come anymore,'” reported Cornel Sandu, explaining the justification allegedly provided to the students.
