Popovienė Assesses First VBE Results: Adjusted Threshold Has Indeed Paid Off

Lithuania's acting Education Minister R. Popovienė has asserted that the national matriculation exam (VBE) results demonstrate a "calming and stabilization" path for the education system, attributing this success to an adjusted passing threshold. She stated that teachers are prepared to continue working with new educational programs, indicating a positive outlook on recent reforms.

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This is a great achievement that we have managed to go down the path of calming and stabilization – the results have shown that very clearly. The adjusted threshold has really paid off, great attention has been paid to the tasks, and teachers are truly prepared to work with new educational programs for the second year.

Popovienė's comments came in response to criticism from Simonas Kairys of the Liberal Movement party. Kairys argued that exam results have not improved compared to the previous year, pointing to the consistent number of students failing the mathematics exam. He claimed that despite lowering the passing threshold, "we haven't moved forward by a fingernail."

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Last year, over 4,000 students failed the state mathematics exam. This year, even after lowering the bar, the number is again around 4,000. We haven't moved forward by a fingernail.

However, Popovienė contested Kairys's interpretation, explaining that the raw numbers are not directly comparable. She highlighted that a significant portion of those who failed this year were students retaking the exam from previous years or taking it externally. "We definitely have significantly better results," she insisted, urging for a thorough analysis before disseminating potentially misleading figures.

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4,000 and more came to take it this year, so those numbers cannot be compared – they really need to be analyzed, we definitely have significantly better results.

Prime Minister-designate Mindaugas Sinkevičius added that Lithuania's education system is adopting best practices from Scandinavian countries, adapting to modern technological advancements like artificial intelligence. The adjusted passing score for exams is now 25 points. Recent results show that 97.5% of students passed the Lithuanian language and literature exam (extended course), with 168 achieving perfect scores. For the mathematics exam (extended course), 85.1% passed, and 210 students scored 100 points.

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Of course, the largest proportion of those who failed this year are children from last year and those who came to take it externally. So, before telling the whole of Lithuania such moods and spreading these numbers, we must analyze them very, very well and not say what is not there.