Two boys in school uniform wearing face masks are seen walking at the arrival hall of Hong Kong International Airport on Jan 22, 2020. (ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)
HONG KONG – This year’s Diploma of Secondary Education examinations may be further postponed in light of the epidemic situation in Hong Kong, a source familiar to the matter has told China Daily.
The spike in coronavirus infections in the past two weeks has cast doubt among officials and educators on whether it would be possible to hold the university entrance exams in April. An estimated 52,000 students are expected to sit for the exam this year.
The DSE exams, originally scheduled to begin on March 27, has already been postponed by four weeks to late April
For those who cannot take part in the exams, their results might be determined by their past academic performance, said the source, who is responsible for publicity and information technology at a secondary school.
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The source said the Education Bureau would make the final decision in a day or two.
On March 21, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s government announced the postponement of the DSE exams -- which was originally scheduled to begin on March 27 -- by four weeks to late April.
Many candidates are worried that they could be infected with the disease as hundreds of students will take the exam in an exam hall, the source said.
Schools designated as examination venues reckoned that the risks are too high to conduct the exams under the current situation, the source added.
In recent weeks, an average of 42 patients in Hong Kong were confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus pneumonia every day, most of them being imported cases.
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If one student sitting for the exam is infected with the coronavirus, the consequence could be devastating, a teacher said.
For his school, 10 students of foreign origin are still being stranded in their home countries and might not be able to return to sit for the exams, the sourced said.
The Education Bureau has not replied to a China Daily query on the possible changes to exam arrangements by press time.
