Schools furious about a major leak of sensitive VCE data are calling the blunder "atrocious" and are demanding that a list of affected students be released immediately.
Victorian schools are scrambling to support 2075 VCE students who prematurely received their VCE study scores and Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks (ATAR) on Wednesday evening over SMS, five days before the official release.
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The students reported they were sent their marks after registering to receive their grades by text message. The students received their grades in a period of just over an hour.
It is understood that this is the first major breach of this kind that has been linked to Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) and the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).
There were fears that the grades distributed were a cruel hoax, but the marks were confirmed as accurate by VTAC at 2am on Thursday.
Trinity Grammar School deputy headmaster Rohan Brown said the breach was inexcusable, comparing the fiasco to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census failure.
"We used to get all of our results in the mail and they never stuffed it up. How could the technology be that poor?" he said.
"It's just atrocious, I think there needs to be some real accountability here ... it really is, I think, undermining the confidence of the system and that's what I find disappointing."
Mr Brown said seven Trinity Grammar boys were affected.
Melbourne Girls Grammar principal Catherine Misson said VTAC must urgently release a list of students who received marks early, so the school can lend them support.
"We have no confirmed students, like every other principal in Victoria, I won't be relaxed until I get official confirmation about which, if any of my students have been affected," she said.
"My greatest need as a principal is getting a confirmation."
VTAC has told schools it plans to send out a list with the names of students who saw their marks on Thursday.
However, Ms Misson said schools should have received this information by 10am on Thursday at the latest.
Bialik College principal Jeremy Stowe-Lindner said it was important that schools received the names of students affected, but there was no need for marks to be revealed to schools early.
"We don't normally get the data until the official release time, so there's no need for us to know the data at this stage," he said.
"Mistakes happen and the whole VCE system is complex. You have to look at the human element of errors."
VTAC spokeswoman Suzanne Connelly said the organisation had sent "regular updates" to Victorian schools since Wednesday night, and 60 per cent of schools with students who received results prematurely were notified by 2:30pm on
Thursday.
"VTAC staff have prepared lists of affected students at each schools which are being sent to individual schools," she said. "The remaining schools will receive them this afternoon."
"VTAC has been available to schools by phone, email and social media for support."
Ms Connelly also apologised on behalf of the agencies involved. "At the moment our emphasis is on the students who have received their results and their ATAR, if they were eligible for one."
The saga is a major embarrassment for VTAC who vowed just weeks ago to crack down on schools that leaked ATARs.
It imposed a range of penalties for schools that broke the rules, including being barred from accessing early results for up to five years.
Education Minister James Merlino ordered an urgent investigation into the blunder.
VCAA chief executive John Firth told 3AW radio VCAA and VTAC spent four hours on Wednesday night checking databases to ensure students had received accurate grades.
Mr Firth apologised to students, but said it appeared the error was by Salmat Digital, who set up the website and SMS service.
"The contractor is contracted to set up the website and to set up the SMS service and it obviously happened, it looks like human error, we're waiting for full report from our contractor in the setting up of the SMS service."
It is not yet clear what repercussions are in store for those responsible for the breach.
Salmat Digital's chief operating officer Ian Harris said the company had provided the SMS service "for more than 10 years", but said the incident was "extremely regrettable".
"Salmat Digital apologises to those students and their families impacted by this situation at what is already a stressful time," he said.
"We are working with the VCAA and VTAC and reassure students and their families that we have isolated and fixed the issue to ensure no further results are released before the scheduled date."
Education spokesman Nick Wakeling seized on the blunder in a statement released on Thursday.
"This is a bigger stuff up then the Census," he said. "This shambles puts into serious jeopardy the public's faith in the system."
VCE results will officially be released at 7am on Monday.
If you received an early text and need advice, call VTAC on 1300 364 133 or VCAA on 1800 134 197.
With Bianca Hall
