Frustration at NCEA results delays

Dunedin pupils Michael Fox (17, left), and Elliot Munro (16), both of Otago Boys High School, and Megan Summers (17, second from left) and Olivia Stevens (16), both of Columba College, reflect on delays in obtaining their NCEA results via internet. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

Several Dunedin secondary pupils were frustrated and disappointed with delays in obtaining some of their NCEA results via the internet yesterday.

Of four pupils spoken to yesterday, three had eventually obtained their results from NZQA but only after frustrating delays of about 45 to 90 minutes.

Another pupil, Elliot Munro (16), who starts year 13 studies at Otago Boys High School this year, said he had not yet been able to obtain his results by early afternoon, despite having made three attempts to get the information.

The outcome was ''not really good enough'', he said.

It is understood he obtained his results later in the afternoon.

Michael Fox, also of Otago Boys, said it was ''a bit weird'' he had experienced a 45-minute delay before gaining his results. Some pupils who had not obtained results could have felt ''left out'' when other people already had their results.

NZQA announced shortly after 8am yesterday that results were out, but pupils were having trouble logging in. NZQA said the site had not crashed but its servers were at ''full capacity''.

Demand was ''very high at the moment'', but the system was ''just a bit slow due to demand'', NZQA posted to its followers on Twitter.

Complaints had earlier been flying from pupils and teachers, who felt the inconsistencies were unethical and confusing, after a bungled test run on Monday gave some pupils brief access to preliminary results, which were then pulled.

Megan Summers (17), a Columba College pupil, said she obtained her results at 9.30am yesterday, after a ''quite frustrating'' wait since 8am.

Another college pupil, Olivia Stevens (16), said she had been happy to get her results, but had had to wait 45 minutes to do so. Pupils said NZQA should have catered for the known high demand for the results.

Adding to anxieties for some pupils was a concern entry to some high school courses, and some later university academic options, were affected by results.

Otago Secondary Schools Principals' Association secretary Gordon Wilson said he would be concerned if pupils were not obtaining results at the same time, and hoped the system was ''robust enough'' to provide simultaneous results.

Julie Anderson, principal of Queen's High School, Dunedin, and chairwoman of the Otago-Southland Secondary Schools Principals' Association, said she had not received any complaints yesterday from Queen's pupils.

Future academic ''pathways'' for Otago-Southland pupils were partly influenced by NCEA outcomes, and she did not want pupils to be ''anxious'' about obtaining results.

john.gibb@odt.co.nz