The frustration has now led to a serious discussion over whether the plan to have O-Net (Ordinary National Educational Test) and A-Net (Advanced National Education Test) scores as university admission criteria should be scrapped.

However, the concept behind the O-Net/A-Net university-admission system is not at fault here. Rather, the problem lies in a mixture of human and technical errors during the implementation.

Therefore, it would be unwise to turn back to the old entrance-examination system in which a student's chance to enter his or her favourite university depends solely on central university-entrance exams, which are quite academically difficult.

In the old days, these challenging tests were blamed for pushing students to cram schools - and paying less attention to their regular classes. On top of that, the tests widened the gap in educational opportunities among students. Those from rural areas and poor families did not have a chance to attend cram schools, many of which successfully prepared students for the central university entrance exams.

Authorities then came up with the new university-admission system in which students' grade point average (GPA) from senior-secondary years counted towards their chance to enter university.

To prepare for the new system, GPA was included as a university-admission criterion a few years ago.

This year was the first time that the Office of Higher Education Commission (Ohec) stopped holding the central university-entrance exams and prepared to use the O-Net and A-net scores together with the GPA and grades for some relevant subjects, as admission criteria.

The O-Net and A-Net are very much like national tests that have been in place for years to evaluate the overall academic performances at each level. But there are also considered much easier than the central university entrance exams, in which only a handful of students scored over 80 per cent.

University lecturers designed the questions for the central university entrance exams while secondary schools' teachers formulated the questions in the O-Net/A-Net. "The central university entrance exams are unnecessarily difficult," Ohec secretary-general Pavich Thongroj said.

The O-Net/A-Net and central university exams are also different in that the A-Net had sections for open-ended questions. For nearly three decades, the central university exams had only multiple-choice tests. Despite some differences, the O-Net and A-Net are not a bad idea. All the mayhem simply stems from technical and human errors.

When the National Institute of Education Testing Service held the O-Net/A-Net the first time this year there was no Plan B for any unprecedented problems that might have arisen. When the problems did arise, the testing service was unable to tackle them.

The testing service also forgot to think carefully about how to score millions of answer sheets in the open-ended question sections.

"There are certainly problems in the scoring system. Still, these are not grounds to rush back to the central entrance exams," Pavich said.

Pratya Vesarach, who chairs the University Presidents Council of Thailand, said changing the university-admission system back and forth would only serve to confuse students even more.

"I think it is much better to solve the problems in the O-Net and A-Net such as scoring software, GPA inflation at some schools and the open-ended question section," he said.

After all, so many students the rural areas and poor families are hoping to enter their favourite universities though they may never be able to register for an extensive course in a cram school.

Will authorities simply stop considering these students just because of the human and technical errors that can both be fixed and prevented?

Chularat Saengpassa

The Nation