It has not been the practice to do that. It is now the practice that itemised parcels are signed for. In dealing with subjects where there are multiple components it happens, not too infrequently, that some students do not sit the practical elements of the examination. The art and craft examination last year only had one part in the answer which was the total mark. On the engineering examination, missing components would have been missed because the technology that has been in placing for logging in the information on the engineering examination would have highlighted the absence of those components. That system will also be in place for the 1996 art and craft examination students.
We should keep a sense of balance regarding this. An enormous logistical operation is going on at this time. The scale of it means mistakes occur. The responsibility of the Minister is to ensure that where mistakes occur they are fully and openly addressed and that the risk of recurrence is minimised. I acknowledge the work of the teachers and of Department officials as they work through what has to be done at this time. I said last month when some of this emerged, and I will repeat it again in the last few days of the public examination system, that our duty is to maintain confidence in the system and ensure that the students take their examination in as calm an atmosphere as possible. If we put into perspective the small number of errors that have occurred this year, greater ones last year that have now been fully investigated and absences that happened in the past, we are looking at a system where the Department of Education and the teaching profession are working together to ensure that as more technology becomes available to us, as greater numbers of students take the examination, they are doing it under a system that is getting all the supports that are necessary. We cannot legislate for human error.
