Covid-19 exam protocol for matrics
|Published
Pupils sitting in an exam room. The Department of Education had published Covid-19 protocols which are to be followed in order for a matric pupil who has tested positive to be able to write their exams.
Parents or caregivers of matric pupils who have tested positive for Covid-19 are to inform the school principal immediately of the positive status so that arrangements can be made for the candidate to write the exam in isolation.
This is according to the Covid-19 protocols issued by the Department of Education (DBE) on Monday.
Last week, the DBE together with the Department of Health, announced that Covid-19-positive tested pupils would be allowed to write their final exams. This is after pupils and parents made representations to the DBE asking that it allow pupils who have tested positive for Covid-19 to write their exams.
However; that same decision sparked fury with the teachers’ unions, who said that they were not consulted and feared for the safety of their members.
The unions went as far as saying that teachers would not be invigilating exams where a Covid-19 pupil was writing, instead, they called for nurses to invigilate.
According to the protocols:
- Parents should inform the school principal of the positive status timeously so that arrangements for an
- Parents, care-givers or a designated family member who intentionally conceals the Covid-19-positive status of the candidate in their care will face legal consequences should it be later revealed that this information was wilfully withheld by the parent.
- Only candidates who have tested positive and are deemed fit to write an exam, will be allowed to write the 2020 Combined November exam.
- The Provincial Education Department will liaise with the Provincial Department of Health and establish isolation venues at selected centres in the province. These centres could be a clinic, a room in a hospital, a community hall, a church hall or any other venue, which includes the home, that is conducive to the writing of an exam.
- The invigilation at the isolation venue will be carried out by a health official, an educator, exam official or a private invigilator.
- The social distancing at an isolation venue can be extended beyond the 1.5-metre requirement.
- In addition to allowing candidates who test positive for Covid-19 to write the exams, matrics who present a temperature of 38°C and above and/or answer “yes” to two or more of the questions on the screening questionnaire must write the exam at an isolation venue at the school. The pupils must be referred to a health facility or provider after the exam is written.
* For study guides, advice and more, visit our special Matric page.