Hong Kong’s main college entrance examination will go ahead as planned for now, said education officials on Monday, but students will need a negative COVID-19 rapid test result before entering venues on each exam day.
Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung announced in a press briefing that the city’s Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam will begin on April 22, 2022 as scheduled, but the timetable will be compressed from one month to around three weeks.
“We have considered a range of factors including the current pandemic situation, the preparedness of the schools, the situation of the students et cetera… We have to consider the impact of different factors as well as the need of students to apply for universities both in Hong Kong and overseas,” he said.
Yeung added that should the pandemic worsen, forcing the suspension of the exam — which is only conducted in person — authorities have prepared two backup dates, starting in May and June.
He said they would confirm the starting date of the exam in early April.
The education minister also said that if the exam could not be completed or carried out at all, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority has a mechanism in place to estimate the grades of each student.
But he stressed this would be “the worst case scenario”.
Yeung said the Education Bureau has allocated an additional HK$20 million (US$2.6 million) for the exam authority to enhance precautionary measures, including providing all students sitting for the papers and invigilators rapid antigen test kits for them to use every day before going to the exam venues.
“If there are any confirmed cases, of course the candidates should not go to take the exam because it would also endanger the other students at the same center,” he said.
The exam authority added candidates who have COVID-19 symptoms such as fever or are under quarantine order should also not go to sit for the papers.
The authority said that students will need to fill in a health declaration form on each exam day.
It warned candidates not to make a false declaration as there are penalties, including disqualification from the exam and “legal implications”.
For the last two years, students under quarantine could take the exam in designated facilities. But Yeung said it would be difficult to make such an arrangement this year due to the lack of quarantine facilities.
The exam authority added its mechanism to estimate the grades for students can be used for candidates who miss out on sitting for papers for valid reasons, such as testing positive for COVID-19 or being under quarantine order.
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.
Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to include comments by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.
