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Thursday, May 02, 2024
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DSE venue solves Covid fix
A designated exam venue for Hong Kong Diploma Secondary Education candidates who have contracted a Covid-19 infection will be set up on the campus of a former school in San Po Kong.
That comes as the first written exam for this year's DSE exams - in which some 50,000 candidates are sitting - will be held on April 21.
Covid patients must call 36288860 or email the exam authority at rat@hkeaa.edu.hk before 7.30 am to ask to take the exam at the venue - the former Cognitio College (Kowloon) campus on 96 King Fuk Street.
Everyone, whether infected or not, must keep masks on during the tests and fill in a health declaration after measuring their body temperature everyday.
Students can enter the venue from
7.45 am and will sit at least 1.5 meters apart.
If students feel unwell, they should take a rapid antigen test and a photograph of their negative test results, said Ricardo Mak King-sang, director of public exams at the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, along with admission forms.
Covid-positive candidates sitting for the English oral exam that started Tuesday can reschedule within three working days after the original examination date.
For written exams, candidates will be banned from entering normal exam halls and can choose either to take the exams at the designated venue or consider an assessed subject result up to Level 5 with documentary evidence.
Students making false reports on their health declaration forms may face penalties such as being disqualified from the exams.
Examiners at the designated venue will wear protective gear throughout. But unlike last year, students will have to take public transportation to the venue by themselves.
"Last year, since Penny's Bay is a confined isolation facility, and there was no other transportation means to get there, so we had to provide a special transport arrangement," Mak said.
In the 2022 DSE, 44 infected students took their exams at Penny's Bay, with 25 of them infected and the rest close contacts.
The HKEAA is launching a pilot scheme on its second-generation public examinations support system at some 50 schools during Chinese language and math exams, head of school examinations and assessment Kenneth Chu Shun-lung said.
The system allows students to check in by scanning barcodes through an app, and examiners will use the app to check their identities and count exam paper booklets.
On concerns that allowing phone use might encourage students to post barcodes online, Chu said examiners will ask students to turn off their phones after checking in.
"The system shortens identity checks. Candidates are not allowed to take photos or screen capture barcodes. The penalty will be the same as for those taking photos and videos inside exam halls," he said.
Covid patients must call 36288860 or email the exam authority at rat@hkeaa.edu.hk before 7.30 am to ask to take the exam at the venue - the former Cognitio College (Kowloon) campus on 96 King Fuk Street.
Everyone, whether infected or not, must keep masks on during the tests and fill in a health declaration after measuring their body temperature everyday.
Students can enter the venue from
7.45 am and will sit at least 1.5 meters apart.
If students feel unwell, they should take a rapid antigen test and a photograph of their negative test results, said Ricardo Mak King-sang, director of public exams at the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, along with admission forms.
Covid-positive candidates sitting for the English oral exam that started Tuesday can reschedule within three working days after the original examination date.
For written exams, candidates will be banned from entering normal exam halls and can choose either to take the exams at the designated venue or consider an assessed subject result up to Level 5 with documentary evidence.
Students making false reports on their health declaration forms may face penalties such as being disqualified from the exams.
Examiners at the designated venue will wear protective gear throughout. But unlike last year, students will have to take public transportation to the venue by themselves.
"Last year, since Penny's Bay is a confined isolation facility, and there was no other transportation means to get there, so we had to provide a special transport arrangement," Mak said.
In the 2022 DSE, 44 infected students took their exams at Penny's Bay, with 25 of them infected and the rest close contacts.
The HKEAA is launching a pilot scheme on its second-generation public examinations support system at some 50 schools during Chinese language and math exams, head of school examinations and assessment Kenneth Chu Shun-lung said.
The system allows students to check in by scanning barcodes through an app, and examiners will use the app to check their identities and count exam paper booklets.
On concerns that allowing phone use might encourage students to post barcodes online, Chu said examiners will ask students to turn off their phones after checking in.
"The system shortens identity checks. Candidates are not allowed to take photos or screen capture barcodes. The penalty will be the same as for those taking photos and videos inside exam halls," he said.
