Internet glitch disrupts thousands of South Australian students taking online NAPLAN test

It's the first year of online NAPLAN exams but there's already been a disruption to the new tests after almost 70 schools in South Australia were hit with an internet outage.

There was no backup plan in place at any of the 69 schools on Thursday as the technical glitch impacted thousands of students sitting the national numeracy and literacy exam.

"The internet just went out randomly," one affected student told 9News.

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The impacted years three, five, seven and nine students were most of the way through their exams when the schools suddenly went offline.

"I was so close to nearly getting finished [but] it just cut off," another pupil said.

The state government has laid the blame squarely on the internet service provider, Telstra.

"I am reassured that we've got to the bottom with Telstra, the telecommunications provider, why there was an outage. It was rectified within an hour," SA Education Minister Blair Boyer said.

But Telstra says the root of the problem still remains unclear as it works with the state education department to make sure another glitch doesn't happen.

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Parents are saying, however, that there should have been a contingency plan either way.

"They should have pre-planned for something like that," George Govas, the dad of one student said.

Luckily for the affected students, the NAPLAN program saves the work completed every thirty seconds, so students should be able to pick up where they left off.

But pupils say they have been left with unnecessary stress thanks to the glitch – something they would rather not have had to deal with.

"Having to redo it again sucks," one said.