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Victor Ting

Hong Kong’s university entrance exams are “very likely” to go ahead as planned next week, the city’s education minister said on Monday, as new coronavirus infections dropped to single figures over the long weekend.
Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung gave his clearest indication yet on the government’s thinking after the number of new patients infected with Covid-19 was just four on Sunday, the lowest daily tally since March 14, and five on Monday.
“At this moment we are still planning to start the exam on April 24. It’s very likely to be held on that date,” he told a radio programme.
“We are looking at the situation every day, and the numbers [of new infections] have come down in the past few days.”


The number of daily infections has been slowly decreasing, with Monday marking the fifth consecutive day of fewer than 20 cases, and the 10th of fewer than 30.
But Yeung warned the situation could change before final approval is given for the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) tests to go ahead.
“The figures were not that high near the end of March, but because we could see many people might be coming back to the city, we didn’t hold the exam on March 27,” he said, referring to the spike of imported infections after residents abroad returned to Hong Kong.
Over the past few weeks education officials have met with university management and secondary school heads to discuss alternative arrangements to the exams, and to ascertain whether a further postponement could delay the start of the next academic year at universities.
A government source told the Post that the bureau would be announcing details of contingency measures this week at the earliest, including alternative plans should exams have to be pushed back again, or even cancelled if circumstances change.


The public health crisis has already forced a one-month postponement of the exams, which more than 52,000 candidates were originally scheduled to sit from March 27, as well as the indefinite closure of schools since early February.
A poll released earlier this month showed stress levels among the city’s students in March at an all-time high, with students rating it on average at 8.1 out of 10, reflecting the toll taken by the pandemic and disruption to their studies.
The education minister also said there would be special infection control arrangements in exam halls. Tables would be 1.8 metres apart, students and invigilators would be required to wear masks and sanitise their hands before going in, and candidates with a fever would not be admitted.
Yeung said students would have to take their temperature at home on exam day, and fill in a health declaration form. They would be given up to two temperature checks on site.
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Those who could not get in might be assessed through results from their previous internal tests, he added.
Students would also be shown into exam halls earlier than usual, to minimise their interaction time when they wandered around outside the venue.
“Overall we think it is safe, because exams and classes are different,” Yeung said. “There won’t be much interaction in exams once they have gone inside.”


Dr Ho Pak-leung, a top microbiologist from the University of Hong Kong, echoed Yeung’s remarks and said the public exam could proceed if there were no new local clusters of cases, and no cases of unknown origin, for a while. He said Hong Kong had avoided a community outbreak because recent imported cases were discovered at border testing facilities, with patients taken to hospital immediately.
Halina Poon Suk-han, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Subsidised Secondary Schools Council, said schools were ready to host candidates for exams, and would ensure adequate distance between students by opening more classrooms, toilets and other facilities.


Form Six pupil Cyrus Yim, who will sit the exam this year, said students had gone through a bumpy ride as the uncertainty had made exam preparation difficult. “It was like hitting a brake and restarting a car every now and then,” he said.
He believed the pandemic had delivered a damning verdict on the city’s education system. “There’s only one metric to assess students’ ability in Hong Kong – public exams,” he said. “That is why other countries, that take a more holistic approach to education, can afford to cancel their public exams, while Hong Kong can’t.”
At a daily press conference, Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable diseases branch, did not comment on whether it would be appropriate to proceed with the exams, believing that senior education officials would make a judgement “after taking all things into consideration”.


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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: Hong Kong likely to press ahead with DSE university entrance exams as infection rate slows, government minister says

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung has hinted that university entrance exams in Hong Kong could go ahead as planned.

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung has hinted that university entrance exams in Hong Kong could go ahead as planned. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

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Hong Kong

Education

Health & Environment

Coronavirus


Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung hints at official thinking after number of new cases dropped to four over weekend
Exams had initially been scheduled for March 27 and could now begin on April 24



Education minister Kevin Yeung hints at government thinking for Diploma of Secondary Education tests after number of new cases of coronavirus infection dropped to four on Sunday.


Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

HKDSE - Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education

Education in Hong Kong