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Teachers describe gaping holes in exam COVID safety
Despite government assurances that students sitting national examinations would be kept safe from COVID-19 infection, education unions say health measures are sadly lacking.
Basic facilities for invigilators and exam administrators during the exams have not been provided, nor is there sufficient cleansing equipment, disinfection or monitoring of health protocols with more than half a million children gathering for long hours in confined spaces, the union charged.
The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) said although the government had made ample provision of masks, gloves and sanitiser for staff at polling centres during the August general election, only a meagre Rs. 1,000 had been allocated to each exam centre as “miscellaneous expenses” to purchase these items.
This sum has to last for all staff at a centre for 22 days.
The government had promised to transfer unused sanitisers and masks purchased for the election to the exam centres but this had not happened.
A teacher who is an invigilator at a Colombo examination centre said 10 staff members, including invigilators and administrative staff, have to share one sanitiser bottle and buy masks with the allowance. “Calculate how much a person is allocated when Rs. 1,000 is divided among 10 people for 22 days,” the invigilator said, pleading anonymity.
One week on, provisions have already run out and staff are using their own money to buy safety equipment, she said.
While hand-washing and masks are mandatory for students during exams, temperatures are not being checked, unions said.
While insisting on hand-washing, the government had failed to provide liquid soap to examination centres, resulting in shortages at rural centres which, unlike urban schools, cannot afford the luxury of large supplies of liquid soap.
The absence of public health inspectors at centres to ensure strict observance of COVID-19 health protocols was ominous, unions said.
An exams coordinating officer in the south said although social distancing was partially maintained during exams there was absolute chaos when exams finished for the day. Students clustered in groups, brushing against each other, forgetting rules.
Further, the education ministry’s promise to disinfect centres at the end of each day was being ignored. After the first disinfection programme, which was publicised in the media, no disinfection had been carried out.
CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said even that initially disinfection had only been carried out in centres set in popular national schools. “The rural school centres were not disinfected at all,” he said.
The Advanced Level exams, which commenced on October 12, are in operation, with 362,000 children sitting the test at 2,648 centres.
Due to the sudden resurgence of COVID-19 clusters in 21 districts on the eve of exams the government was forced to take emergency measures such as setting up exclusive centres and special public transport services in the Gampaha district, which has been severely affected and is under lockdown.
Last Sunday, around 300,000 Grade 5 students sat the scholarship exams for national schools.
The two sets of exams had been scheduled to be held in August but were postponed twice due to the threat of coronavirus spreading.