School sets up special seats for students with mild Covid

St. Joseph's College in Central Mid-Levels set up special seats for students with mild Covid, or residing in buildings slapped with compulsory testing notices, allowing them to sit for the Diploma of Secondary Education Examinations. 

The DSE is scheduled to start on Friday with the first subject tested being English. 

Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority allowed students subject to compulsory testing who did not have their nucleic acid results but had a negative rapid test result to take the examination at their assigned schools as usual. 

The school arranged for some 100 candidates to take the exams in two auditoriums at a distance of 1.8 meters. 

Additional seats with transparent banners were added to the back of each examination hall for candidates with mild Covid-19 symptoms or living in buildings subject to mandatory testing. 

The school also set aside a number of classrooms as backup examination premises to temporarily receive candidates in case of an outbreak in nearby schools.  

To reserve extra proctoring staff, the school will arrange half-day online classes for form three students next week from Monday to Thursday, while other years will resume online classes next Friday. It was expected to fully resume face-to-face classes by early May. 

Ken Hui Keung-mau, unit-in-charge of Youthline 27778899, reminded candidates to prepare materials bags in advance, and learn the arrangements in case of being infected. 

They should also inform their families about the arrangements and not handle the stress alone. 

Speaking on a radio program, Hui said he had received some 2,670 requests for help from candidates in the past two to three months, an increase of nearly 10 percent compared to last year, mainly related to the uncertainties in details of the examination. 

After the government announced detailed arrangements, he said candidates changed to worry about their results being affected once they tested positive.