In the entrance examination of public high schools in Chiba Prefecture held last month, more than 8 cases of scoring errors were confirmed at nearly 900% of high schools, and it was found that six of them had mistakenly failed the exam. The Board of Education decided to pass six additional students and to check all public high schools in the prefecture to ensure that grading and checking were done properly.
According to the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education, 933 scoring errors were found in the entrance examination of public high schools held last month, such as incorrect answers to answers that should have been correct or incorrect calculation of scores.
Scoring errors were identified in 77 schools, or 98% of all public high schools, and six of these high schools had a passing score but were incorrectly rejected.
For this reason, the Prefectural Board of Education has decided to pass the exam for an additional six students and compensate for the entrance fees of private high schools that have already been paid.
At the press conference, Chiba Prefectural Board of Education Superintendent Masako Tomizuka apologized, saying, "I am truly sorry that there was an error in the entrance examination that affects my life, and I would like to expedite the investigation of the cause to prevent a recurrence."
Discovered in a Freedom of Information request for an examinee's answer sheet
The 900 mistakes were discovered in the wake of a student's Freedom of Information request for his or her answer sheet for an exam at a prefectural high school.
After receiving the request and examining the grading, they noticed an error, and since they found a series of scoring errors in multiple attempts of another examinee, they checked the grading at all high schools.
According to the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education, the manual stipulates that multiple people check the grading process multiple times to prevent mistakes.
In response, the prefectural board of education decided to start a survey at all public high schools to ensure that grading and checks were being carried out properly.