Tobias Sylvester
Eight final year students writing the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), has tested positive for coronavirus in Kwara and Gombe State.
Kwara State Government had revealed that a 16-year-old female is writing her WASSCE at the Kwara state COVID-19 isolation centre, Ilorin.
The COVID-19 student was discovered through contact tracing after one her family members tested positive for the virus. She wrote her Agricultural Science paper on Wednesday under close supervision of a WAEC official at the isolation center.
Also, Gombe State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Habu Dahiru, said eight students have tested positive to coronavirus in the state.
An unnamed male student of the Government Science Secondary School in Gombe was the first to have tested positive in the state.
Despite his status, he was allowed to join his mates to write the WASSCE which started on Monday, August 17, 2020, although from an isolation room.
He was also escorted to his school laboratory the following day for his practical Chemistry examination, and similarly wrote his Agricultural Science paper on Wednesday, August 19.
While visiting the student on Wednesday, the Commissioner said seven students of Government Girls Secondary School Doma also tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of students infected with the virus to eight in Gombe State.
The commissioner said, “We are making arrangements to evacuate them to the isolation centre. We will not allow them to miss their papers because they tested positive.”
KanyiDaily recalls that the WASSCE was first postponed in March after schools were shut down across the country in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease.
An announcement earlier in July to restart the examinations on August 4 was subsequently withdrawn after the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, raised concerns about the safety of students with the coronavirus still active in many parts of the country.
The government announced later in July that schools could reopen for final year students in early August so that the exams could commence on August 17, 2020.
