"Some of them received higher scores than students from Lithuanian-language schools," the minister said at a press conference on Thursday.
But the minister noted that students from ethnic minority schools scored worse in terms of grammar, spelling, and linguistic expression. He added, however, that this year grammar, spelling, and linguistic expression requirements for them will be lower.
11-graders from Lithuanian-language and ethnic minority schools took a unified Lithuanian language and literature mock exam in late April to prepare for the real exam this academic year. Around 3,500 students took the exam.
After finishing the unified Lithuanian language and literature program, all school-leavers will sit a unified final exam. Exam papers by ethnic minority students will be marked based on less rigorous criteria for a transitional period of 8 years, starting from 2013.
Topics of the exam essays will be the same, but the grammar and linguistic expression marking guidelines will differ during the transition period.
