A question about whether adolescence is a positive or negative experience caused a stir after it was placed on an end-of-year state school examination paper.

Thirteen-year-old students, who recently sat for their religion exam in state area secondary schools, were required to answer a multiple choice question that asked them to describe the changes in their bodies brought about by adolescence.

The question - related to a topic that covers the emotional, intellectual and physical changes in adolescence in the religion syllabus - read: "Do we like, dislike or are happy with the changes in our bodies by adolescence?"

However, the only correct answer on the marking sheet, seen by The Sunday Times, was "dislike the changes".

When contacted, Grace Grima, director general for quality in education, said this was a genuine mistake which would be immediately rectified since all three answers were "potentially correct".

"For this particular question, where all three options are potentially correct answers, it should be followed by a justification where students are allowed to develop their reasoning. Unfortunately in this case, the justification was not requested," she said.

Students need to appreciate the human body, which is created by God, even though they might feel the changes might be awkward.

"The message of the textbook is that the changes are positive since these form part of God's plan," Dr Grima said.

The "mistake" was raised by a religion teacher who felt the question was out of place and contacted The Sunday Times on condition of anonymity. The teacher disagreed with the question and decided to give full marks to students who chose the other options.

A new mark sheet that listed all three options as correct was drawn up on Thursday afternoon and distributed to all area schools the following day. With the new sheet in hand, teachers will revise and correct that question, which Dr Grima highlighted had a total of one mark.

"The necessary remedial action has been taken to ensure that no student suffers as a result. Such remedial action is common practice in different examination boards," Dr Grima said.

The exam is set by the education department and distributed to all state schools. It was the first time this question was included in an exam paper and it was not practice to repeat questions in exam papers, she said.

The 90-minute exam was drawn up by a group of people and it was very difficult to identify the person responsible for the question, Dr Grima said. However, she added that the education department had no intention of launching an inquiry into who made the mistake.

"Inquiries are launched when there is something to hide - this was a genuine human mistake and I take full responsibility," Dr Grima said.