In a post on social media, the MATSEC board revealed that the special session of September examinations will still be taking place despite the rise in COVID-19 cases this week and asserted that examiners, invigilators and exam candidates must prevent transmission of the virus.
Over the past week, Malta saw a spike in COVID-19 cases after having gotten close to zero cases just a few weeks back. This has caused students scheduled to sit for exams or resits in September to question if this session of examinations will be taking place at all.
On Wednesday, the MATSEC board addressed these speculations through a post of Facebook which confirmed that this ‘special session’ is still scheduled to take place as planned.
“The MATSEC Board confirms that this special session will go ahead as planned and wishes to reassure candidates that the necessary precautionary measures will be taken to safeguard their health, as well as that of invigilators and examiners, by following the guidelines issued by the competent authorities,” the post read.
Unsurprisingly, this decision attracted a lot of criticism from students who are concerned about spending long periods of time enclosed in crowded examination rooms with some expressing that the May sessions were postponed for nothing as the circumstances are still the same today.
“The stress that a three hour exam brings with it is enough, let alone spending all the three hours feeling suffocated by a mask and anxious because one could get the virus by the encounter of a number of people in the same room. I understand that MATSEC were not expecting such situations to arise again, however the student should not have to suffer from it all!” one popular comment read.
Nonetheless, the MATSEC board has insisted that exams will happen, uploading another post on Thursday morning in which it expressed that all those present have a responsibility to prevent the virus from spreading.
“Examiners, invigilators and exam candidates must prevent the transmission of COVID-19 during the examination process, consistent with updated advice from the public health authorities. Failure to adhere to the conditions indicated below will result in enforcement procedures as provided by the Public Health Act, Chapter 465 of the Laws of Malta,” the post read.
The board encouraged examination candidates to consult the document issued by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Health regarding Obligatory Conditions and Guidelines for Examinations.
At the end of March, the Education Ministry had announced that the May session of examinations were being cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation back then.
Instead of the usual results, students who were supposed to sit for their O’ levels were given a Predictive Level grade, based on their Mock exam results, with the option of sitting for a resit in September if they deem the grade to be unsatisfactory.
Throughout the pandemic, the Education Ministry has insisted that Malta will recover in time for schools to reopen in September as per usual.
The recent spike has raised concerns over this plan, especially after 3 cases were found at SkolaSajf summer schools. However, Bonnici has insisted that it is safe for schools to reopen and sealed his statement in parliament where he revealed that schools are planned to reopen on 28 September.
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