The number of appeals against matriculation grades in the corona year was three times that of a year without the corona, and more appeals were found to be justified.
This emerges from exclusive data revealed in "Israel Today".
The number of appeals against grades in the matriculation exams reached 4,493 appeals in the previous school year (2007/08) - a record compared to 1,518 appeals filed in 2009/10.
Meaning: The number of students appealing is tripled, which also shows that students are questioned in the manner of the test and also increased the expenses of the exams department.
The entire 2021 school year was conducted in the shadow of the Corona, and it was stipulated that each student would take only five external matriculation exams. The corona erupted in March - just before the summer matriculation.
Even then, the scope of exams was reduced, and this year the number of appeals was 2,021.
In contrast, the year 2019 was corona-free, and the number of students appealing in it was lower - 1,518 appeals. Lots more appeals.
The scope of appeals against the results of the matriculation exams, before and after the outbreak of the corona,
It should be noted that the year 1951 included a huge number of different exam dates, as fortifications were also added for the benefit of students who fell ill in Corona or were in isolation and could not take the exam.
The data on matriculation appeals, which are usually kept secret, showed that many more student appeals on matriculation exam results were found to be justified.
In 2021 (2010), more than 63% of the appeals were found to be justified (2,862), compared with the year 2006 where 42% of the appeals were accepted, and compared with 41% of the appeals that were found justified in 2019 (2009).
More students doubt the manner of the test (archive), Photo: Yossi Zeliger
More justified appeals
The Ministry of Education's Examinations Division has in recent years carried out complex technological work to simplify the way students appeal.
In general, the proportion of appellant students is not large.
For example, out of 75,000 maths exams in August 2021, only 76 students appealed the exam results.
According to the data, the matriculation exam that most students appealed to in the Corona year (2007) was in English, with 3,355 appeals. 72% of these appeals were found to be justified - that is, students earned at least five more points.
The number of appellants on the matriculation examination in mathematics in 2021 stood at 395 students, of which the appeal of 41% was found to be justified.
About 150 students appealed for matriculation in citizenship, and in about 35% of the cases, their appeal was accepted and they were given a score of more than five points.
In addition, only 62 students challenged matriculation in the language, and in 38% of the cases they received a grade correction.
Year of Appeal: Scope of Appeals by Subject,
The Ministry of Education spends millions of shekels a year on matriculation exams, and each exam is examined by two examiners.
In case of too large a gap between their scores, the exam passes to a third examiner.
A student's appeal requires further examination of the exam.
In 2021 the Ministry of Education employed 256 examiners to examine student appeals - compared to only 193 examiners in 2019 (before the Corona).
In total, more than 180,000 shekels were spent by the Ministry of Education on appeals from the Corona year.
For an examination of an appeal in English, the Ministry of Education pays NIS 41 for one notebook (for some of the notebooks it paid a little less), and in total only for an examination of appeals in English, the Ministry of Education paid a sum of more than NIS 135,000.
The cost of examining a notebook in mathematics is NIS 55, and the Ministry of Education spent about NIS 14,764 on examining all appeals in mathematics.
The highest amount is paid by the Ministry of Education for an appeal examination in biotechnology, about NIS 83.5 per notebook - and in total for 15 students who appealed, the Ministry of Education spent about NIS 1,500.
As in mathematics, the Ministry of Education pays NIS 55 for an appeal in electronics or geography, while for a Bible or language notebook, NIS 37-30 is paid for each notebook.
Millions of shekels a year for exams.
Examined in the corona year, Photo: Yehuda Peretz
The reform - and the objections
The matriculation exam season is in full swing these days, the students are after the math and English exams, and before them now the language and Bible exams.
It will be recalled that as part of the new matriculation reform of the Minister of Education, Yifat Shasha Bitton, external matriculation exams in four humanities subjects are expected to be abolished, and in general the program contains quite a few challenges and difficulties.
Past cases have shown that whenever schools were required to give students a grade that would affect matriculation, grades were skewed.
In addition, the reform has opposition from the teachers' organization led by Ran Erez, which demands that teachers not cooperate with the Ministry of Education.
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