The NSW Government has apologised to tens of thousands of high school graduates who received HSC certificates printed with the wrong date.
Education Minister Rob Stokes blamed the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for a "human error" that meant incorrect year was printed at the bottom of every student's certificate.
He said he was "incredibly disappointed" by the error and vowed NESA would fix it.
"Our students show incredible diligence and excellence when undertaking the HSC exams and we expect the independent authority that's charged with administering the exams to demonstrate the same level of care and diligence," Mr Stokes said.
HSC certificates seen by the ABC show the fine print at the bottom reading "Issued by NESA without alteration or erasure on 14th December 2017".
Mr Stokes said the incorrect dates, while damning of standards expected from a government authority, would not impact the validity of certificates.
The Education Minister said the mistake needed to be "rectified immediately" and that NESA would not be given any additional funds to fix the certificates.
The NSW Opposition Education Minister Jihad Dib said the Government made a "bungle of epic proportions" by issuing the certificates.
"What an incredible disappointment for the 70,000 HSC students to know their achievements count for so little," Mr Dib said.
"The Government can't get the basic detail right on something as important as the HSC."
