But one victim, in this case a scapegoat, was not enough to quell the impending scandal. The opposition of the Seimas began to demand the head of the minister, considered the possibility of his interpellation, but did not agree. G. Jakštas explained that he is not sticking to the chair, he and R. Skaudžius feel responsible and are ready to withdraw. True, Prime Minister I.Šimonytė was not satisfied with the resignation of the minister.
President G. Nausėda once again perfectly responded to the prevailing mood in society: he admitted that he made a mistake when he agreed to appoint G. Jakšta as a minister.
One way or another, the mistakes of the eleventh intermediate examinations are also used for the election campaign, but G. Nausėda, G. Jakštas, and I. Šimonytė claim that now the problems of their assignments and evaluation must be solved first.
The minister and vice-minister, having met with the picketing students, promised to review the results of the inspections, they should improve.
But it is not clear how similar scandals will be avoided.
One gets the impression that the Lithuanian education system is oppressed by a spell – no matter how much one tries to improve it, everything only looks worse than it was.
Intermediate examinations are designed to improve the results of matriculation exams, raise the level of knowledge of graduates, and reduce the impact of random failures on the certificate.
After all, up to 40 percent 11th graders can collect the final assessment points necessary to pass the matriculation exam during the intermediate examination.
Although the good intentions of the creators of these tests are not in doubt, why did an avalanche of criticism from educators pour in as soon as this idea was proposed?
After all, one of the implementers of the innovation, former NŠA director R. Krasauskienė, herself worked as a math teacher, headed a gymnasium, and prepared a stack of methodological tools for pedagogues. Therefore, she is not some kind of official alien to pedagogues, but comes from the very depths of the community.
Complaints are made that teachers are being forced to prepare for mid-term tests without being paid for it, the curriculum is being disrupted because there are not enough new textbooks, students are already having to teach what was not required of them before, assessment criteria are being questioned, and they are even saying that they will experience more stress due to additional tests .
Despite repeated warnings, some of the skeptics’ warnings that everything will be bad again proved to be abundantly true – G. Jakštas himself questioned the quality of the physics and mathematics intermediate examination tasks.
It was reported that not all of them corresponded to the curricula, some were disproportionately difficult, and there were even errors. It is difficult to understand how this could happen, because it is claimed that the tasks were prepared by highly experienced educators, undisclosed experts with degrees.
But maybe top-level pedagogic experts are breaking away from the reality of schools, offering all 11th graders such puzzles that only school Olympiad participants can solve, and that’s not everyone?
Although the mistakes that occurred cannot be explained even by the proverb “a large print came out of the corner” – there was clearly laziness and carelessness here.
Experts can say that everyone makes mistakes, but eleventh graders pay for them with their nerves, their future depends on the results of the tests.
G. Jakštas, who solved the mathematics test tasks, admitted that they are too difficult for students studying this subject at the B level. A similar response is given to the physics mid-term examination.
The minister began to reassure that the points collected by the eleventh graders are not yet final, the evaluations will be reconsidered within a month, commissions have been formed for this purpose, but there is no promise to cancel the inspections, although parents are writing petitions demanding that their results not be recognized.
According to G. Jakštos, if the test results are not taken into account, the students who received the highest marks would be disadvantaged, and their legitimate expectations would be denied.
But what to do so that the many eleventh-graders who are stressed by too difficult, confusing assignments do not become frustrated is also unclear.
If the same thing happens during other interim inspections, it will be possible to blame the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for not doing what they were supposed to do and their resignations were not accepted, so that misunderstandings due to poorly prepared tasks do not happen again.
Hence, then, in the words of the president, the last credit of trust would be wasted.
It is obvious that the Minister of Easy Life G. Jakštas and the Deputy Minister R. Skaudžius will not live to the end of their term.
The tasks of the interim test of Lithuanian language and literature (speaking), which are very important for students, have already received strong criticism from Lithuanianists in advance.
There are also unfounded rumors in the public space, which have grown legs due to real problems – G. Jakštas had to deny the lie that the concept of the intermediate examination of the English language was suddenly changed.
It seems that it is not so important whether the heads of the ČMSM will keep their posts, or whether the perpetrators of the chaos of intermediate inspections will be held accountable.
Students and their parents are most concerned about whether the Lithuanian education system itself will pass the matriculation exam, because it will determine both the personal destinies of young people and the future of the entire country.
