Tetyana Vakulenko, head of the Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment, urged lawmakers to establish additional testing centers in shelters. Her appeal comes in light of the difficulties faced by students in Odesa during prolonged air raid alerts.
During her address to the Verkhovna Rada, Vakulenko highlighted the situation in Odesa on June 8, where many students were forced to remain in temporary examination centers for over eight hours due to ongoing air raid warnings. She pointed out that only a third of the testing centers in the region are equipped with proper shelters.
“In contrast, eastern regions such as Sumy ensure that 100% of their participants can take the NMT in shelters. Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Cherkasy regions accommodate around 90%, while Kyiv provides for 70%, and Rivne for nearly half. However, many areas have only a few centers in shelters,” she noted.
Vakulenko emphasized that creating testing centers in shelters requires significant resources, as it involves more than just a safe space; it necessitates a fully equipped computer area with internet access, ventilation, and essential infrastructure.
“Please help us create as many centers in shelters as possible,” she appealed to the parliament members.
She also reminded that students have the right to stop testing after two and a half hours of air raid alerts and can take the exam during a subsequent session. However, many students and their parents in Odesa opted to wait for the alerts to end before continuing the test.
“Returning to the situation in Odesa, could the teenagers on June 8 have stopped their participation in the testing during the air raid alerts? Absolutely. Since the first year of the NMT, it has been stipulated that after two and a half hours of alerts, a participant can cease the assessment and join a later session. Testing center staff strongly recommended this. Yet, students and their parents requested to wait until the alerts ended and resume the test. It’s important to note that, according to representatives of the Odesa testing center, they coordinated actions with the parents, ensuring that students had access to water and snacks. At any moment, they could have stopped testing and been allowed to join the additional session,” she explained.
According to the Ukrainian Center for Educational Quality Assessment, 1,349 participants attended the NMT in Odesa on June 8. Out of 1,022 individuals who tested outside shelters, 105 applied for the additional session. Preliminary results indicated that the performance of participants that day was consistent with other testing days.
Vakulenko acknowledged that the current NMT model is not perfect, but it allows for a transparent admission process to Ukrainian higher education institutions even amid the ongoing war.
Details on the Extended NMT Testing in Odesa on June 8
On the evening of June 8, reports circulated online claiming that NMT participants in Odesa continued testing into the night.
Parents and relatives expressed concerns about the lengthy testing process due to numerous air raid alerts. Posts indicated that some graduates were at testing sites from morning until evening because the exam was repeatedly interrupted by air raid signals.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that the Ombudsman’s office in Odesa received complaints regarding violations during the NMT in one testing center.
He noted that due to extended air raid alerts, the testing process lasted over 13 hours, with participants reporting a lack of basic amenities, including access to water and food.
Anatoliy Anisimov, director of the Odesa Regional Center for Educational Quality Assessment, mentioned that the air raid lasting over six hours was the longest since 2023. According to regulations, if an air raid lasts more than 2.5 hours, participants can halt testing and apply for a subsequent session in July.
“Everyone was offered the option to complete testing and apply for the additional session. However, many students chose to stay at the testing sites and wait for the opportunity to finish the exam that same day,” he said.
Furthermore, the director of the Odesa Regional Department of Education and Science, Oleksandr Lonchak, informed that the department plans to advocate for simplified admission conditions for graduates from frontline areas.
On June 9, during a session of the Ukrainian Parliament, 239 lawmakers voted to summon Tetyana Vakulenko to discuss the NMT process and whether students were offered the option to take the test in a later session.
Tetyana Vakulenko has called for more testing centers in shelters following significant challenges faced by students during air raid alerts in Odesa. The situation on June 8 highlighted the urgent need for safe locations as students endured lengthy waits amid ongoing threats.