First-ever event in Moldovan schools: 3,200 pupils test digital skills

About 3,200 students from 9th and 12th grades from 74 educational institutions of Moldova tested, for the first time, their digital skills in a national assessment organized by the Ministry of Education and Research and the National Agency for Curriculum and Evaluation today.

One of the institutions where the exercise took place is the Spiru Haret Theoretical Lyceum from Chisinau. Pupils took the test on the specialized platform www.md.brio.ro, which ensures data security and confidentiality and can be accessed from a computer, laptop or tablet.

The initiative gives young people official recognition of their level of digital competence—a skill increasingly demanded in the labor market and essential for modern education.

Depending on their performance, participants will receive one of the ratings of elementary, intermediate or advanced. The certificate got can be used for admission to lyceum education or for equivalency of related courses in university programmes and other forms of education.

Director of the National Agency for Curriculum and Evaluation Lilia Ivanov said that, through this test, pupils had the opportunity to test their skills, identify their strengths and also the areas in which they want to improve.

"The digital transformation of education is no longer an option, but a necessity, because the world we live in is changing rapidly and digital technologies are present in all areas. Therefore, the mission of a school is to train pupils not only to use technology, but to understand it, make the most of it, and why not—to use it creatively and responsibly," noted Lilia Ivanov.

Out of the total participants, about 2,200 are 9th-grade pupils and about 1,000 are 12th-grade students.

The 74 educational institutions where the assessment took place were designated as Testing Centers, at a proposal of the local specialized bodies in the field of education from all districts/municipalities in the country.

On November 19-24, participating pupils benefited from training sessions dedicated to using the www.md.brio.ro platform, where they learned how to access items and navigate the system. These trainings aimed to familiarize students with the digital testing environment and enhance confidence in the evaluation process.

The evaluation of digital skills is based on the European Digital Competence Framework (DigComp 2.2) targeting the five main areas of competence: information and data literacy; communication and collaboration; digital content creation; safety, problem-solving.