Hundreds of students delayed in PSLE oral exam due to lag in online system

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.

Several 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.

Ms Sowmya Harish, whose son took the Tamil oral exam on Tuesday, was shocked to see him almost in tears when she picked him up after his session. 

Her son Saiprasad, who is a student at Pasir Ris Primary, was the first student to sit for the oral exam on Tuesday.

He was told to report to school at about 7.30am, before being led to a room at about 8am to look at the materials for a few minutes before the exam, as per usual practice. 

But because of the delay, he ended up waiting outside the exam room for about 20 to 30 minutes after leaving the practice room. By then, he forgot everything he had prepared, his family said. 

In usual conditions, he would only have to wait a few minutes before being let into the exam room. He told a teacher that he was stressed during the wait and they tried to reassure him, but he still ended up stuttering through the exam, the Primary 6 student told CNA.

Teachers later told him that SEAB may take the delay into account when computing the oral exam scores, he said.

"It was quite shocking for me to see (him like this), because I'm a first-time PSLE parent ... To see him, from the first day after the exams, was quite shocking for me, almost heart stopping," said his mother. 

"When we came home, he broke down." 

Those who reported for the second session at 11am also faced some delays due to the late start of the first session. 

Another parent who only wanted to be known as Jasmine said her son, who attends River Valley Primary School, was told to report at 10am for the second session, but only took his exam at about 12.10pm.

He was among the first few students to take the oral exam in the second session.

"The teachers were very nice. I think they were worried that the (second) session kids would get hungry, so they bought burgers for them," she added. 

"To be honest, I don't think anyone was affected. No one said much in the (parents) group chat as well." 

SEAB did not respond to CNA's queries about exactly how long the delay was for students across both sessions. 

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.