Context: The Finnish Marticulation Examination is a national examination required to qualify for entry into a university in Finland (not strictly required, but the vast majority will have passed the exam before university). These are basically the final exams of Finnish “high school”. The current digital system used for the exams is called “Abitti”, which is a Debian-based OS. The students boot into the system with provided USB-sticks.
In the linked article, there is the following statement (in Finnish):
Computer technology advances quickly, and the current Abitti works in fewer and fewer computers. The threat is that computers that can run the current Linux-environment won’t be available in the near future.
The new system (“Abitti 2”), which is planned to be used by Autumn 2026, uses locked-down Web-apps written for each supported OS. Support is planned for Windows, Mac, and ChromeOS. Linux support “needs further investigation”. As I understand it, the current situation is that the old Linux USB-stick method (now called “Abitti 2 student-stick”) is still used as a backup for those without Windows, Mac, or ChromeOS.
I think the main premise of Linux-bootable computers not being available in the near future is extremely dystopian. Thoughts?
Yes, but everyone taking the test needs to take it exactly the same time. I think in most schools there wouldn’t be enough computers for everyone.
Why at the same time? Can’t it be done over a week?
https://okm.fi/en/finnish-matriculation-examination
Everyone takes the same test with the same questions at the same time. It’s very strict. If you’re sick that day or show up even one minute late, you need to wait half a year for the next chance.
Finland is a developed country. If they don’t have enough computers for that it’s a choice, not for lack of resources.
But does anyone do computer labs anymore? Every school I’ve seen the past few years issued either a laptop or a tablet to every student. That was admittedly in fairly affluent countries or areas, but again, Finland is a developed country. A country which routinely tops international rankings for education. They invest in education like a developed nation should, and could afford testing equipment if they wanted to.