An extension of one week to carry out the remedial exams the first days of September: the ministerial rule, which foresees that all the checks are done before August 31, but allows until next September 8. The date of the exams is not a trivial matter, given that it affects around 400,000 students and their families, affecting their holidays and days dedicated to study and tutoring. In Italy, in fact, every year the school year ends with at least one out of every 5 high school students in debt. In recent years, the percentage of children with suspension of judgment amounted to just under 20% of the 2 million students who attend the first 4 years of high school. Therefore, around 400,000 young people have at least one subject to regain proficiency and must do so at the beginning of the following year. This year, the Ministry of Education and Merit has invited educational centers to conduct the remedial exams before the end of August, as the institutions must submit the test results through the online platform before August 31. As required by the original rule.
THE NOTE
But with a note from Minister Valditara, also for this year the possibility of moving the timetables to the first week of September is confirmed, leaving educational centers the possibility of respecting the dates already set. The decree with which exams were started to recover debts dates back to 2007 when the then minister Fioroni, setting the date of the exams on August 31, granted the possibility of taking them at the latest at the beginning of classes the following year. And so it will also be in September, at least for this year. “In the past there has always been tolerance until the first week of September – clarified the Ministry of Education and Merit – and, in any case, before the start of classes. Also this year, the deadline will be extended until September 8.” A note that was a reassurance for schools and families who have already organized the summer and, therefore, also the recovery for September: “There will be no changes – Minister Valditara stressed – in the already consolidated practice in schools”. In fact, many institutes have always chosen the first days of September as the exam date, also to give students more time to study when they return from vacation. However, organizing the exams in August brings organizational advantages: “If on the 31st the schools know the number of people admitted to the next class – explains Mario Rusconi, president of the National Association of Directors in Rome – they can communicate the data to the school offices which thus have the possibility to de facto calculate the staff. However, I am convinced that this decision, made by schools, must also take into account individual needs. A student of mine – concluded Rusconi, director of Pius IX on the Aventine hill in Rome – is to leave in September to do the year of studies abroad and we have given him the possibility to advance the tests». In fact, the dates are set independently by the individual schools: “Some take the tests already after mid-July – explains Cristina Costarelli, president of the ANP of Lazio – others at the end of August and others in the first days of September. The legislation foresees that the debts are recovered at the end of the year, therefore, on August 31, but with a fair reason it can also be reached at the beginning of September.’ In any case, the exams are taken after the completion of remedial courses, which are not always done for all subjects: “The real problem with remedial exams – comments the Baccalaureate Student Network – is the completion of the courses. Often schools do them only for the main subjects, especially in the southern regions, and many children are left without the possibility of recovery”.
CRITICISM
To support schools with the most critical problems, linked to student performance, resources have been deployed for targeted interventions in 500 schools. Minister Valditara has signed a new decree to allocate the remaining resources of the European Fund to 500 institutions of higher education for more than 390,000 students: it is 95 million euros intended for the creation of local wired or wireless networks, for the purchase of digital screens or tools for digital transformation in teaching or green laboratory equipment. To identify the schools, reference will be made to students in fragile conditions from the Invalsi Report 2023. The provision also allocates 56% of the funds to the regions where the phenomenon is more pronounced in accordance with the provisions of Minister Valditara’s Southern Agenda.
Source : IL Messaggero
