Quebec students left in limbo as government portal crashes on exam results day

Quebec students left in limbo as government portal crashes on exam results day

Technical issues disrupt final marks, makeup exam registration

Quebec government portal crashes on students’ exam results day

Quebec high school students and their parents were left scrambling after the government portal meant to display final ministry exam results crashed on Tuesday morning.

In an emailed statement, Education Ministry spokesperson Bryan St-Louis acknowledged that the website was experiencing technical difficulties and that "investigations are currently underway."

"Our teams are working to find a swift solution so that students and parents can access their results," St-Louis wrote.

Frustrated parents took to social media to report that the online portal, the Dossier scolaire de l'élève en ligne, failed to load at 8:30 a.m. ET — the time the marks were scheduled to be released.

The outage also caused further anxiety for families, as registration for summer makeup exams was also set to begin at that time.

On Tuesday afternoon, Education Minister Sonia LeBel took to social media to say that the ministry was working to fix the problem as soon as possible.

"We completely understand the frustration of the students and their parents who are trying to check the results online without success."

In a statement sent to CBC on Tuesday evening, the Ministry of Education said the portal was again accessible by late afternoon.

It said it will continue to investigate what caused the problem to ensure the issues are not repeated.

"The Ministry is aware of the inconvenience caused. We know that these results were highly anticipated," the statement reads.

The ministry added that it has asked school service centres, school boards, and private schools to make direct contact with students struggling with their academics to ensure the appropriate next steps can be taken faster. This would include signing up for summer school or rewriting an exam.