Hong Kong’s main college entrance examination will go ahead as planned on April 22, education authorities announced on Monday, adding that special arrangements will be made for those infected with COVID-19 or under quarantine.
Speaking at a press conference, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said that officials decided to have the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam begin as planned after taking into consideration the city’s stabilizing coronavirus situation, students’ wishes and how the exam can be conducted safely with precautionary measures.
As previously announced, the exam will be completed in around three weeks on May 14, while results will be out on July 20.
Like earlier announced, candidates need to have a negative COVID-19 rapid antigen test result before entering venues on each exam day. They are required to take a photo of the negative test result and may be asked to show it before entering exam venues.
But the education minister conceded there could be sudden changes to the coronavirus situation, which may affect the running of the exam.
In that case, he said authorities will make announcements as soon as possible.
Yeung also said there will be special arrangements for students infected with COVID-19 or who are close contacts of those with the virus to take the exam.
This came after criticism grew over education officials’ lack of action in ensuring these candidates can sit for the exam and them just telling these students there is an existing mechanism to estimate their grades.
Under the new arrangements, those who test positive for the coronavirus but are in a healthy condition can voluntarily enter the isolation facilities at Penny’s Bay to take the exam there.
If the candidates are entering the facilities earlier, they can decide on the day itself whether or not to take the paper based on their health condition at that time.
“But they cannot change their mind — to not take the exam — after looking at the paper,” said Hong Chan Tsui-wah, deputy secretary for education (curriculum and quality assurance branch).
They also have to stay in the facilities until their isolation period is over.
Those who are not infected but have to quarantine because they are a close contact of a positive case can also take the exam if they choose to quarantine at Penny’s Bay.
Likewise, they have to stay there until their quarantine order ends.
Officials said there will be designated taxis to take these students to the isolation or quarantine facilities. If they test positive and decide to take the exam at Penny’s Bay, they have to contact exam authorities before 6:30am on the day of the exam so relevant departments can arrange the transport for them to the facilities in time for the paper.
However, authorities said they were unable to provide these arrangements for candidates with special education needs.
They added that if a DSE candidate’s residence is under a testing order, he or she can get priority to quickly get the result to take part in the paper that day.
“We wish to remind students that your long-term health is more important than an exam and being unwell might affect your performance on that day,” said Yeung.
He called on students to seriously consider using the mechanism to estimate their grades if they become infected and do not feel well.
The mechanism determines a student’s grades based on his or her performance in school and how the school fares when compared with others.
But under the mechanism, students can only get a maximum score of 5 on a seven-point grading scale with 5** being the highest.
