Minister proposes certificates despite failed grade 9 exams

Latvia’s education and science minister, Ilze Indriksone, has proposed allowing ninth-grade graduates to receive certificates even if they have failed centralised examinations, LSM reported. Teachers have expressed mixed views on reducing the exams’ role.

Indriksone, a member of the National Alliance, plans to submit the proposed changes to the government for consideration. She said certificates should be issued to students who have received passing annual grades in all subjects, even if they did not pass the exams.

About 800 students fail the ninth-grade centralised examinations each year. This year, when students needed to score at least 15 percent of the maximum points, 750 failed the mathematics exam and 150 failed the Latvian language exam.

Under the current system, students who fail the exams do not receive a certificate of basic education. They must either repeat ninth grade or attend a vocational school while also trying to learn material from the ninth-grade curriculum.

Indriksone said only three OECD countries currently impose thresholds in centralised or final examinations that prevent students who have otherwise successfully completed the school year from continuing their education.

She said an exam failure should not be treated as a punishment and argued that students face different circumstances that can affect their performance.

Ivo Rode, head of the private Patnis school, fully supports the minister’s proposal. He said students should be able to complete school after nine years of education even if they have failed an exam, adding that repeating ninth grade can cause many students to lose confidence in themselves.

Rode also said the exams do not reflect graduates’ actual knowledge, as they include highly specific questions that are mostly not useful outside the examination setting.