Concern pupils may be barred from NCEA exams

A SOUTH Otago woman is worried unvaccinated children could be forced to miss National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) exams if there is a measles outbreak in Balclutha.

Jodie Monaghan was contacted by the principal of her daughter’s school to say in the event of a measles outbreak, pupils who had not been verified as having been vaccinated would be banned from taking their exams.

‘‘Surely, you can’t be putting people in the position where you’re going to deny people the ability to sit exams because there’s an outbreak,’’ she said.

South Otago High School principal Mike Wright confirmed her understanding was correct.

But, he said, the school was acting on advice from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and was doing its part to protect the health of its community.

Mr Wright said the situation was similar to when the school held a field trip to Queenstown and had asked for verifications of pupils’ vaccinations.

‘‘We’re doing our very best to protect our community and our students from measles coming into our community.

‘‘At this stage, noone — and we most certainly are not — [is] saying any child will be prevented from sitting their NZQA NCEA examinations. But what we are trying to do is prepare parents, prepare students, by putting this information out now. So that parents have time to gather the documentation that may be required.

‘‘Because the last thing we want to do is the day before an exam find out we’re going to have to prevent students who are nonimmunised from coming to sit exams and then turn around to parents and say you’ve got to produce this immunity information.

‘‘Because while we acknowledge that students will be stressed because of the exam — it’s important — we’re trying to be well prepared so that if this ever eventuates, we can say we’ve actually prepared.’’

An NZQA spokesman said the authority had procedures in place for students ‘‘should there be a disruption to the upcoming examination period’’.

He said the current measles outbreak was ‘‘a reminder that schools need to be prepared for unexpected events that occur during or just before the NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship examinations. Such an event may result in students being unable to sit their examinations’’.

The derived grade and unexpected event grade processes would ensure students can achieve an authentic grade for their work if they are unable to sit one or more of their scheduled examinations, or their performance is impaired as a result of the event.

In its latest measles update, the Southern District Health Board last week said there were 29 confirmed measles cases in Queenstown, 28 of those being Queenstown residents.