DSE Exams As Planned – If Situation Is Safe: Govt

Hong Kong officials say the university entrance examinations are to go ahead as scheduled from April 24 – if there is no escalation in the coronavirus situation.

The Secretary for Education, Kevin Yeung, said on Wednesday that he is confident the exams will be held as planned, but also did not rule out the possibility of another date change.

The Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education examinations have been pushed back from March 27 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But uncertainty has also remained over the April date as some health experts say it is too early to ease restrictions on gatherings despite a recent drop in new coronavirus cases.

Teachers and students have been calling on the government to make a firm decision on the issue, saying the uncertainty is playing havoc with preparations.

Leung said he was confident that the exams will begin this month, but also announced a number of fallback options, should the situation in Hong Kong change suddenly.

These include deferring the exams again to May or June, or in the worst case scenario, cancelling them entirely.

“We have to look at the whole issue comprehensively. Whether there are any incidents or whether there are any particular cases of concern amongst the confirmed cases or whether there will be any coming events that we believe will cause us some concern about the safety of the candidates,” he said.

“Otherwise, we will go ahead with the exams on April 24 and continue until the exams are completed,” he said.

Yeung said that if the decision was taken to cancel the exams, authorities would confer scores on students based on internal school grades as well as the school's historical performance.

The education secretary appealed to employers in Hong Kong to allow staff to work flexible hours during the one-month exam period so that they can avoid taking public transport between 7am and 8am, when candidates will have to travel to exam centres.

“I appeal to all Hong Kong citizens… let’s do our best to support the exam candidates. We should continue to maintain personal hygiene and social distancing. Preventing the disease from spreading in society is the greatest help to the students,” he said.

Yeung asked all candidates and invigilators to start checking their temperatures every day to make sure they are not sick.