Emergency plans set for DSE exams

Sophie Hui

The Secretary for Education, Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, has announced emergency plans for this year's Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination.

Exams before March 27 will be postponed, while classes will be suspended until at least March 2.

A total of 52,687 candidates have registered for the exams, with written tests set to begin on March 27.

A survey by Youth New World group of 805 candidates found that about 80 percent do not want the exams canceled amid the virus outbreak, while 65 percent are worried that they would be infected when doing the exams.

The bureau yesterday came up with two plans.

Exams before March 27 will be postponed, including those for physical education and music, as well as the Chinese oral exam.

Yeung said one option is to start written exams and the English oral exams from March 27 as scheduled, but the exams for physical education and music will be postponed to May.

The Chinese oral exams will also be postponed to May 18 to 26. The results' release day will also be delayed for one week to about July 15.

Another option would be to postpone all exams for four weeks with written exams to start on April 24, and the oral exams for both Chinese and English canceled.

Exams for physical education and music will be postponed to end-May to mid-June.

The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority will compress the time in exam marking so candidates will get their results in July.

Yeung said the bureau will make a decision by the end of the month based on the situation of the virus.

While the exams are important to the 50,000 students, he said "life is more important."

Yeung added: "What we are trying to do today is to set out clearly our plans regarding the dates and the arrangement."

The bureau said it cannot say for sure whether the exams can go ahead on March 27 as the situation is changing every day.

Precautionary measures will be stepped up to protect candidates sitting the exams, said the exams authority secretary general, So Kwok-sang.

He said candidates' temperatures will be measured at the site before the exams, and they have to wear masks. If a candidate's temperature is higher than 38 degrees Celsius, or has symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection, he or she will be asked to go home.

Candidates are also required to declare their health status and whether they have visited the mainland in the previous 14 days.

So also said the authority has contacted schools to provide more classrooms for the exams so candidates will have more space.

Teddy Tang Chun-keung, Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools chairman, welcomed the announcement as it cleared the uncertainties.

He said schools have sufficient time to arrange exam sites.

sophie.hui@singtaonewscorp.com