In the Odesa region, the National Multidisciplinary Test took nearly 13 hours due to security alerts
In the Odesa region, air raid alerts significantly disrupted the administration of the national multimedia test, causing the exam to last nearly 13 hours. This was reported by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, who noted that security challenges affected the organization of the educational process during the testing.
According to him, children were forced to remain in shelters for nearly 13 hours.
The Representative Office in the Odesa region received reports of gross violations during the organization of the testing at one of the exam centers.
The premises where the NMT was held turned out to be virtually unprepared for martial law conditions and regular air raid alerts. Due to constant interruptions, the procedure lasted from 9:00 a.m. to around 10:00 p.m.—more than 13 hours of continuous stress for the children, Lubinets emphasized.
Test takers reported that they were denied access to water and food throughout this entire period. Contact with parents was significantly restricted. Only a few children who felt ill were able to reach out for help. A particularly difficult situation arose for orphaned children, who were effectively left without any support during their many hours at the testing center.
Later, thanks to the initiative of teachers and parents, the participants were able to secure access to drinking water and food. This outpouring of concern also made it possible to partially assist orphaned children and those whose parents were unable to provide for them, the ombudsman said.
Afterward, the children reported severe exhaustion, loss of concentration, and an inability to complete the tasks properly.
The final sections were completed in a state of extreme fatigue. This calls into question the objectivity of the results, the equality of conditions for all participants, and the fairness of the assessment itself. According to available information, participants were offered an additional NMT session without clear dates or guarantees that the situation would not repeat itself.
This is an unacceptable failure of the NMT administration system under martial law, which provides children with neither safety, nor basic conditions, nor equal opportunities, and effectively violates children’s rights. Such organization of testing is unacceptable and requires an immediate response from the Ministry of Education and Science and a review of procedures, he concluded.
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