Ontario high school students will be handwriting their secondary school literacy test next year after a province-wide online trial was cancelled due to a cyberattack earlier this fall.
Ontario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter said in a statement the move will be less disruptive for students, teachers and parents until the security issues have been addressed.
“The malicious attack on the system this past Fall took a tremendous toll on the thousands of students, parents and educators who prepared for the OSSLT,” Hunter said.
The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) was scheduled for October 20, but some students and educators weren’t able to access the system due to technical issues.
Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), which administers the tests, blamed the problem on an “intentional, malicious” DDoS attack.
READ MORE: Cancelled Ontario online school literacy test due to cyberattack: EQAO
EQAO said that since the online trial did not work, approximately 140,000 students will now handwrite their literacy tests in March instead.
“Before the OSSLT moves back online, I will need to be assured by EQAO that the necessary technical issues, security concerns and system stability requirements have been addressed,” Hunter explained.
EQAO said students’ personal information wasn’t compromised during the attack.
“While we are pressing ‘Pause’ on EQAO’s move toward online assessments, we are by no means hitting ‘Stop,'” Interim EQAO CEO Richard Jones said in a media release.
“The intent is to come back with a system that better addresses needs in terms of usability, accessibility and security.”
The minister said an audit is currently underway to determine the full scope of the cyberattack and that the online trial won’t recommence until the internet breach is corrected.
“My expectation remains that when the audit is complete, EQAO should present a public account of what happened and what steps will be taken to ensure student success is not put at risk again,” Hunter said.