Students pleased with COVID-19 prevention measures for exam

WESTERN BUREAU:

High-school students in western Jamaica, who sat for yesterday’s first set of Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) papers, were in full compliance with the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The students The Gleaner spoke with in the aftermath of the examinations said they all witnessed strict sanitisation and social-distancing rules at the locations where they sat their examinations.

Jadon Hewitt, a 17-year-old lower sixth form student at Cornwall College in Montego Bay, said that he and his peers, who did the Sociology Unit One paper, had to sanitise their hands and don their masks before they were allowed into the examination room.

“There was social distancing practised from the instant we got into the room. In addition, there was mandatory sanitisation, so we had to sanitise before we went into the room and interacted with anything related to the exams,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt’s schoolmate, lower sixth form student, 17-year-old Jaheim Stennett, said that the exam’s organisers had the students enter the room in a structured manner so as to maintain social distancing.

“They had us enter the room one after another so as not to interact with each other, and they had us coming in the room in such a manner that we did not have to pass by anybody. They put persons at the back first, the ones who should sit at the back, and after that, they put in the persons who would sit closer at the front,” said Stennett.

FELT SAFER

Nyame Frater, a 19-year-old upper sixth form student of Herbert Morrison Technical High School, also in Montego Bay, recalled that when she went to do her management of business paper, the school would only let in students who were listed to do the exam. She also noted that hand sanitiser dispensers were placed at various points around the premises.

“At first I felt worried about the situation, but when I got to school and saw the measures they had put in place, I felt safer. As we entered through the gate, the first thing they did was sanitise us and take our temperature, and then they went through the exam list to ensure that only those students who were on the list were currently at school,” said Frater.

“When we got into the exam room, all the desks and chairs were arranged six feet apart, and everybody had to wear their masks at all times. I also observed that they had hand sanitiser dispensers placed all around the school,” Frater added.

Some 132,000 students across Jamaica started the CSEC and CAPE exams on Monday. Exam results are expected during the third week of September.