Covid-19 positive pupils write Grade 7 exams from Home

AT least six COVID-19 positive pupils in Bulawayo wrote their Grade Seven examinations either at their homes or in isolation centres. Grade Seven pupils started writing their Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) examinations on Thursday.

The Grade Seven final examinations, which are normally held in October, were delayed to this month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an interview with NewZimbabwe. Education ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro said Bulawayo province has the highest number of pupils who did not sit for their examinations at their respective schools.

“Five or six students, particularly in Bulawayo, wrote their Grade Seven examinations either at their homes or at isolation centres. The examinations were written under strict World Health Organisation (WHO) and the

Education ministry COVID-19 guidelines. The invigilators were also fullyequipped with proper COVID-19 protective gear,” he said.

Ndoro added that pupils who wrote their examinations at home had their homes fumigated before the start of examinations.

“Those students who wrote their examinations at home also wrote under very strict COVID-19 guidelines. Everything went well. Zimbabwe is the only country in sub-Sahara Africa to successfully hold examinations under the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ndoro said.

NewZimbabwe.com was reliably informed that one of the affected pupils wrote her examination at an isolation centre where she is isolated together with her mother.

Several schools in Bulawayo have been hit by COVID-19 forcing some schools to close.