Microsoft’s problem in December that affects students may take ‘weeks’ to fix

A Microsoft problem that is affecting school students in Scotland during the first few days of learning at home can take several weeks to resolve.

The company is “a few weeks away” from implementing a permanent fix for the “enter” button in Microsoft Teams, according to Education Scotland.

There have also been reports of delays in the chat function.

It arises after a separate problem with the teams affected students across Scotland.

Several schools reported that the technology was slow or did not work on Monday. Education Scotland said the problem was resolved that night.

Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the government continued to establish contact with the company to resolve the problems.

Microsoft Teams is one of the main platforms used for distance learning with schools closed to most students until at least the beginning of February.

In December, the company received complaints about problems with the ‘enter’ button and the chat update, which the Scottish government says still affects a “small number of users”.

Then, on Monday, several schools, students and parents reported that the technology was slow or did not work.

Microsoft said that engineers are working to resolve the problem. When pressed to see whether the resulting demand for home schooling was causing the problem, the company declined to comment.

On Tuesday, an elementary school in Edinburgh sent a text to parents saying, “Microsoft is still having some problems with the Teams app. This is a national problem and we hope to be resolved soon.”

The BBC approached Microsoft for an update, but has yet to receive a response.

Education Scotland, the Scottish government agency responsible for improving education, said in an update on its website that it continues to work with the company.

The post said: “We continue to work with the Microsoft technical team to resolve the intermittent association button failure that affected a small number of users.

“We can confirm that Microsoft is within a few weeks of implementing a permanent fix for this. In the meantime, continue to use the manual workaround and where we can expedite any work we will be doing.

“We received a small number of reports of delays in the chat function during some meetings. Microsoft is investigating ways to improve the user experience, although it is working as planned.

“There are changes in operational usage that can be implemented by our users to help improve their experience. If anyone needs help with this, contact the helpdesk for more information.”

Ms. Sturgeon reiterated during Tuesday’s daily briefing that the issue “was not just affecting education or just affecting Scotland”.

She said her office received a brief report on the matter from the secretary of education that morning.

“We are still in negotiations with Microsoft,” she said. “Microsoft has given assurances that this is being resolved and we hope it will be resolved soon.

“It is not a problem with Glow, a Scottish government resource.”

Glow gives users access to Microsoft Office 365 – which includes Teams – and G Suite applications, such as Google Classroom. Local authorities decide what to use between Microsoft and the G Suite.

Sturgeon added that Microsoft’s problem is “clearly making things more difficult than they already are” for parents, young people and teachers.