Skolverket's digital platform for national exams failed during Thursday's test run, affecting thousands of students. Only about half of 17,000 students could complete the trial, and teachers describe the chaos as a disaster. The project, costing nearly 700 million kronor, has faced sharp criticism.
On Thursday, Skolverket's digital platform for national exams was tested at several schools across Sweden, but the system crashed, causing significant chaos. Only about half of the 17,000 participating students could complete the trial, according to reports from the teachers' union Sveriges Lärare. At Fokusskolan in Nyköping, teacher Ronny Söderqvist struggled to assist students: 'I walked five thousand steps in the classroom in 45 minutes to help the students.' Most students couldn't log in, and Söderqvist noted seeing data on students from other schools upon login—a issue that led to the test being canceled two days before last year due to privacy concerns.
At Färjestadens school in Mörbylånga municipality on Öland, teacher Emelie Grön tried starting the exam at nine o'clock, but the platform failed. 'When the exam started at nine, we couldn't get into the site. We tried changing our settings, but nothing worked. We thought it was our fault,' she says. After nearly an hour, students were sent on break instead of the five-minute test. Skolverket's support was initially unaware of the issue, but after contacting colleagues in the municipality, it became clear the problem was widespread. 'It's so boring that it turns out like this! We teachers have had to attend training for this system, and it takes time from our planning and teaching,' Grön adds.
The project, now in its ninth year, has cost taxpayers nearly 700 million kronor to digitize the exams for fairer assessments. Anna Maria Nord, chief safety representative for Sveriges Lärare in Stockholm, calls it 'a disaster.' Schools have invested in training and connectivity, but Ronny Söderqvist says: 'It's embarrassing. I fully expect it to be on paper again this spring.' Skolverket confirms login and execution issues and plans an evaluation ahead of the national exams in spring 2026.
