Minister for Education and Employment Owen Bonnici said today schools will remain closed till end of June.

Initially, schools had been closed for a week, which was later extended to the end of the Easter holidays, 17 April. Now this has been further extended to end June, therefore bringing to an end the current scholastic year.

This measure is being taken as a way to combat the spread of Coronavirus. It was agreed to by all stakeholders involved, the minister said when addressing the media.

O level and A level exams in the spring session, which were scheduled to take place as from 23 April, will not take place, the minister said.

Students who were to sit for their O level examinations will be graded Level 2 or 3 according to their performance in the mock examinations held before schools were closed. This predictive assessment will be carried out by the MATSEC board. 

Students will be allowed to sit for the autumn (September) session if they wish to try to improve their grade, Bonnici said.

People who do not attend school but want to take exams can still apply to sit for the September session like any other student.

With regard to 'A' levels, the spring session will be cancelled and replaced by an autumn session, and a new timetable is being prepared. A resit exam, originally scheduled for September, will take place in December, the minister said. Students will still be able to start their course at University, MCAST and other institutions when they re-open for the next academic year, even in cases when they would have failed in the September session.

Pupils attending Years 4 and 5 will be automatically promoted to the next year, while students of Year 6 will be assessed on their performance until the schools were closed to see whether they will move on to Year 7. There will be no benchmark exercise this year for Year 6 students.

The minister said that students in Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 will also be automatically promoted to the next level.

Bonnici said that the decisions were taken with the best interests of the students in mind.

With regard to University courses, the minister said that no changes will be made apart from certain exceptions which require practical assessments like clinical practice and teaching practice.

The minister acknowledged that educators might be worried that students will not be motivated to continue with their lessons but he encouraged all students to keep on learning and studying for their exams.

He added that we are in a situation that is constantly changing so the package will be adapted as deemed necessary. He also pointed out that any queries can be answered by contacting the helpline 25981000.

Asked about University examinations, University Rector Prof Alfred Vella said that students who are at university will have their exams as usual in June and this will happen for all courses except for a select few, which have practical examinations like placements or teaching practice.

The methods of assessment are still different so students will not be asked to come to University but use online systems.