The exam information system (EIS) has been developed in Estonia since 2009 and two people are responsible for it.

"The initial investigation showed that it is likely to be a case of human error, with the result that loads were not tested in the public view used by schools and the system was not set up to cope with this load," Kattago told Wednesday's "Aktuaalne kaamera".

"Load testing is a standard practice, a common procedure that we perform on all IT products before they ever go in front of the end-user," he said.

While the Department of Technology Management in the Ministry of Education is responsible for technology development, the Department of General Education is responsible for entrance exams.

On Monday, the Ministry of Education admitted there were problems with the information flow.

"The exact information should have been passed to the exam information systems developer and through the product manager. Why it didn't we can't say today. It will be revealed in further investigations," the undersecretary said.

IT expert Taavi Kotka said the EIS system is small.

"It's not about how it was done or who did it," Kotka said. "All such important systems have to be tested first, just like in bridge construction, so that if the bridge has to carry a load, calculations are made to see if the bridge is capable of carrying that load. The same applies here. After all, it was known in advance how many test takers there would be, so it is not very difficult to run these load tests. Clearly, there was a lack of skill, knowledge and supervision," he said.

Minister of Education Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) said it is clear the problem was not only with two people, but also at the management level.

"We are currently conducting an internal investigation which started today. We need to find out how decisions were made or not made, where. We identified a technological failure – we know where the cause is. But obviously, it was also missed somewhere in the management chain," said Kallas.

The undersecretary said the ministry already understood last year that a larger private company will need to take over the development.

"Expectations for the EIS have grown and grown over time, and so has this transition to e-exams. We can't do a very big and important development work with two, one person," said Kattago.

A new EIS developer has not yet been chosen.

According to the undersecretary, the internal view of the EIS intended for national exams that passed the stress test could have been used for the entrance tests, but the schools would have had to enter into an agreement with the ministry to use it. According to a representative of a state high school, they were not aware of this possibility, moreover, the test solution intended for public use last year worked.

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