Testing of mainland DSE students looks strong on paper

Exam papers will be delivered by couriers to the two mainland schools approved to be exam centers for the upcoming Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examination in April, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority announced yesterday.

About 110 secondary six students from Shenzhen Hong Kong Pui Kiu College Longhua Xinyi School and the Affiliated School of JNU for Hong Kong and Macao Students in Guangzhou will sit for the written exams over a period of 10 days that the HKEAA has set for mainland students. But students will have to take the DSE English oral exam in Hong Kong between March 12 and 21.

An authority spokesman said yesterday the same set of exam papers will be used for both Hong Kong and mainland candidates.

The papers will be delivered to the two mainland schools days before the exams.

Upon arrival at the schools, they will be stored in a locked box in a locked room on campuses that will have surveillance cameras installed and manned by HKEAA staff and guards until exam days.

When asked if any unforeseen circumstances in the centers are anticipated and whether public security or fire officials are needed to respond in the event of an incident, the authority said the vehicles transporting the examination papers were equipped with GPS systems to allow every movement to be tracked. If there's a traffic accident, it would request assistance from mainland police to ensure smooth transportation. If patrol officers in security rooms notice any unusual activities outside, such as someone attempting to break in, they would immediately report it to the police.

Customs and immigration officers on both sides would not open the examination papers' containers.

Experienced supervisors from Hong Kong will be assigned to oversee the examination operations in the two centers.

Last month, the authority conducted rehearsals for the transportation and security measures.

"The HKEAA has thoroughly reviewed the schools' preparatory work and arrangements, which covered aspects, including storage and transportation of exam papers, setup of exam rooms, appointment of exam personnel, etc, and considered that they had met the requirements in terms of confidentiality, security and reliability," it said.

An additional fee would be charged to mainland candidates for the expenses.

The expansion of the arrangement to Greater Bay Area cities for next year's DSE exams will be considered based on how this year's pilot goes.