Estonia's exam information system suffers another glitch during proficiency tests
The Estonian Examination Information System (EIS), which encountered technical issues several times in the spring, failed again this Monday (October 7), leading to the cancellation of the Russian language proficiency test for fourth graders. The Ministry of Education is looking for a developer to design the new EIS, but until that is in place, further failures cannot be ruled out, according to Deputy Secretary General Henry Kattago.
This spring, state secondary schools in Tallinn and Harju County were forced cancel their joint tests due to glitches in the Examination Information System (EIS), while problems also arose during the Estonian language exam. An audit carried out at the time showed that rather than attempting to further develop the current EIS, it would be better to create a new system. This however, will take some time.
This Monday (October 7), the proficiency test in Russian for the fourth grade was due to take place. However, during the course of the exam, some schools experienced technical problems with the EIS and, in order to ensure equal treatment for all pupils, the Education and Youth Board (Harno) decided to cancel the proficiency test and postpone it until November.
However, it was not the only proficiency test scheduled for the week, with the fourth grade math proficiency test also due to take place from Wednesday to Friday. Some parents were informed by their children's schools on Tuesday afternoon that the math proficiency test would still go ahead as scheduled.
However, Aimi Püüa, head of the Harno Center for Examinations and Studies, told ERR that both proficiency tests have been postponed until November as it has not yet been possible to identify the cause of Monday's EIS glitches.
"As the cause of the error was unknown, we could not take the risk that students who had prepared for the work would miss the test for technical reasons," said Püüa.
According to Püüa, a notice was sent early on Tuesday morning to all 89 schools where proficiency tests were due to take place this week, informing them of the postponement. However, no new dates for the proficiency tests, which Harno has promised to send to schools by October 15, have been set.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday (October 8), the proficiency tests for seventh grade math and fourth grade Estonian both went ahead without any technical problems, according to Harno. The marking of answers and generation and analysis of results is now ongoing.
According to Henry Kattago, deputy secretary general for assets at the Estonian Ministry of Education, the EIS has been operating without major problems since spring and has been under increased scrutiny.
"The ministry has launched a framework tender for a completely new EIS development partner, and the roll-out of the new EIS is expected to take place in 2026. In the meantime, the existing EIS will need to be maintained and developed. As it is an old technical system, it cannot be guaranteed that there will be no failures at all," he said.
According to Kattago, it can also be the case that the EIS itself is operational, but other technical systems that are necessary to run it are failing.
"Unfortunately, a large number of people – students and teachers – are always affected by EIS failures, which is why they attract a lot of attention. The EIS team works daily to minimize any risks associated with the operation of the EIS. It is important to identify the causes of any disruption and to rectify them quickly," Kattago said.
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Editor: Karin Koppel, Michael Cole