School exam system needs reform, says expert

School leaving exams in Lithuania need to be reformed to meet present day standards, a senior adviser to President Dalia Grybauskaite has said.

Virginija Budiene, senior advisor on education, science, culture and non-governmental organizations said Lithuania excelled in areas including literacy but needed to modernize examinations.

"There are certain deficiencies between different examination results," Budiene said.

"This examination system was created 20 years ago, so it has been noticeable for several years now, that the examination system needs to be reformed."

This year, 12 percent of school students failed to pass the state level mathematics exam, 11 percent failed at history. Meanwhile, 12 percent of school students failed, at the state level, the Lithuanian language and literature examination, which has caused the most discussion.

"I do not think we should escalate the word ‘illiterate.’ In fact, Lithuanians are highly literate within the European Union. In some cases we even surpass other European countries in reading," the advisor said, dismissing claims regarding widespread illiteracy in an interview with Ziniu Radijas radio.

Budiene relayed the president's greetings to the country's school-leavers and wished to find their path in life and work for the benefit of Lithuania. Talking about school-leaving examination results, the presidential advisor noted the need for change.