STRESSED pupils were left in tears when vital computer equipment broke down in the middle of an exam.

Young people at 16 schools across the city were one hour into the National 5 Admin final when a central printer server stopped working.

Engineers were sent out to the secondaries to reboot the server but the exam had to be suspended over the weekend.

One mum, who asked not to be named, said: "My daughter was in tears, as were several of her friends.

"They have studied so hard after a really difficult couple of years and just wanted to get in and get the exam done to the best of their ability.

"Instead they said that a problem arose after about an hour and they had to stop the exam while the teachers tried to sort out the problem.

"Imagine the amount of stress they were under - unacceptable."

Glasgow City Council signed a seven-year deal with IT firm CGI in 2017 and the company runs all IT across the local authority.

The council said the education department immediately liaised with the SQA to have the printing element of the National 5 exam moved.

Pupils began the test at 1.30pm last Friday and the problem occurred around 2.30pm with CGI being contacted about the issue.

Technical teams were involved to reboot the server and an engineer dispatched to schools.

Youngsters then had to return to school on Monday to finish off the exam. 

The council said a probe is underway to find out what went wrong. 

A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise to any pupils affected by a computer server issue experienced by a number of our schools during the Nat 5 Admin exam last Friday.

“No candidates will be disadvantaged by the problem as SQA agreed to let the young people complete the printed element of the exam the following Monday.

“Engineers were quickly dispatched to the schools to reboot the server and technical experts are now looking to see how it happened in the first place to reduce the risk of any potential future problems.”