The Council of University Presidents of Thailand (CUPT) has made the right decision in allowing the exam results of pre-university students who failed to put in verification codes of the exam papers to be counted.
This is only fair as the failure related to the codes may not have stemmed entirely from the students' part.
It is concerning though that the CUPT does not acknowledge other possibilities that may have contributed to the code issues outside of student negligence.
The CUPT yesterday released a statement saying that 1,285 or 0.096% of the General Aptitude Test (GAT) and Professional Aptitude Test (PAT) university admission exam answer sheets could not be checked because the exam takers failed to put in the serial numbers of their test papers.
These students were subsequently given zero marks on these particular tests. Some of them have subsequently called on Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Minister Anek Laothamatas to review their exam results. Without their results, they can not be considered for university admission and will have to wait another year to retake the exam.
In its statement, the CUPT acknowledged this is the first year more than one set of tests had been used, resulting in the need for the exam takers to indicate which test they were given by putting in serial numbers.
The CUPT has insisted that it gave plenty of warnings to the students via multiple media channels prior to the exam dates.
The instruction that the serial numbers must be put in was also clearly shown on the exam papers, the statement said.
The CUPT said it understood that some students might be negligent or forgot to follow instructions.
That is why it has agreed to check the exam papers without the serial numbers so that the students will get their results by the end of the month and avoid having to wait another year.
Some of the students who called for a review of their exam results, however, said an exam supervisor insisted they did not need to put in the serial numbers of their test papers on the answer sheets despite the written instruction.
News reports also stated that the CUPT consulted with exam supervisors and found that there was indeed a misunderstanding. The supervisor in question thought the applicants were asking if they needed to sign their names before going out of the exam room.
It is true that the error accounted for only some of the more than 1,200 incomplete answer sheets.
According to the Thai University Central Admission System (TCAS65), answer sheets with no serial numbers were also found elsewhere across the country. But that does not mean the CUPT should gloss over the error on its part and put all the blame on the students.
The importance of the university admission exam cannot be stressed enough. For millions of youngsters, this could be the determiner for their future careers.
Many of them studied hard for four years before sitting the exams. The least that the CUPT and other authorities concerned with administering the tests could do is to ensure that there are zero mistakes whether in the exam papers or process.
Their job is to maintain the highest standard for the admission test. The "misunderstanding" should not have happened.
If its own exam supervisor was not clear about the instruction, it will be difficult for students, parents or the general public to have faith in the university admission system.
