Frantic students reassured
Universities have promised to add more seats for students who eventually find out that their O-Net and A-Net scores are high enough to be accepted by the faculty they apply for, as the entrance-exam fiasco drags on.
Universities may be forced to announce lists of successful applicants before the National Institute of Education Testing Service (NIETS) is able to sort out scores for the 300,000 or more students who took the tests. The scores are being used as the main criterion for admission to university for the first time this year. The results of the tests were announced for a third time last Sunday but many of those who took the tests still found themselves with the unlikely score of zero or scores lower than those previously an-nounced. They are now frantically contacting NIETS officials to find out their real scores. The University Presidents Council of Thailand yesterday urged students still caught up in the fiasco to submit university applications now and wait for officials to sort out the mess. Council members agreed to let students with flawed O-Net and A-Net scores apply for admission and then resubmit their scores once officials verify them, council president Pratya Vesarach said yesterday. "Apply first to reserve your opportunity, then try to solve problems and prove your scores," he said. If the resubmitted scores were higher than the minimum scores set by each faculty the students would be admitted, he said. Pratya believed that the number of students who end up with higher scores would not be too big for each faculty to accommodate. "We have estimated that if our capacity is to accommodate 100 seats, we should be able to extend our capacity a bit and add 10 more seats to accommodate those who perform well enough but are trapped in the test-score problem," he explained. Widespread errors have been apparent each time the scores have been announced. Last month NIETS twice announced then voided the scores. But, with the university application deadline this Sunday, students with flawed scores have been frantic. Higher Education Commission secretary-general Pavich Thongroj said the commission had solved many problems for NIETS and it was now time for NIETS to solve the rest. Pavich explained that the commission now needed to focus on processing university applications.
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