Earlier today, student representatives from KSU, KSJC, SDM, Pulse, KNŻ, and KSM met with the Minister for Education, Dr Owen Bonnici. This followed the online uproar by MATSEC students after their frustrations and pleas for clarity about the upcoming exams were met with cold vague replies. The main takeaway from the meeting is that the physical examinations will still be happening for MATSEC as already stated.
- The student reps clarified a number of details with Dr Bonnici, that the students had as of yet been left in the dark about.
- Any student placed under quarantine during the September session will have to sit for the resit session in December. In the meantime they will be able to start their University course on provision.
- Students who have applied for ‘Doctor of Medicine and Surgery’ and are placed under quarantine during the September session can take their exam at home in the presence of a fully gowned and protected invigilator.
- Any students who are COVID-19 positive during the September session will be considered as absent due to sickness and will need to sit for the exam in December.
With regards to the actual safety precautions set in place during the examination itself, the student reps have clarified the following.
- Temperature checks will be taken for each student and if a student shows an elevated body temperature above 37.2 degrees celsius, they will be given a few minutes rest before a temperature check is repeated several times for confirmation. If the fever maintains they will be considered as sick.
- All students are obliged to wear a mask/visor during in all common areas in the exam venue, before entering, upon exit of the exam venue and if being excused to the bathroom during the exam only. They are not obliged to wear a mask throughout the exam itself as desks will be distanced 2 metres apart and all staff will be wearing a mask/visor at all times.
- The maximum capacity of the exam venues has been assessed and a limited number of desks have been made available. Social distancing is encouraged at all times, even outside of the venue before/after the exam
Students sitting for their O’ Level exams in the September session will not be eligible for a resit, since the results according to the predictive grading were considered the first sitting.
Finally it has also been confirmed that no contingency plan has been prepared in case the COVID-19 pandemic in Malta worsens or if a national state of emergency is declared once again. This is despite the alarming number of daily average cases.