Nigeria: Kwara Government arranges WAEC exam for 16-year-old COVID-19 patient

Nigeria's Kwara State Government on august 19 has arranged COVID-19/Infectious Disease Centre in Ilorin for 16-year-old female COVID-19 patient sitting for her senior secondary school certificate examination.

In a statement made available to newsmen by Rafiu Ajakaye, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor/Spokesman, Kwara State Technical Committee on COVID-19 has said that the patient whose name and school was withheld to avoid stigma wrote her Agricultural Science paper on Wednesday under close supervision by an official of the West African Examination Council (WAEC).

He said the Team Lead/Manager Case Management Team, Kwara COVID-19/Infectious Diseases Centre, Dr. Kudirat Oladeji-Lambe, told reporters that the candidate is asymptomatic, stable, and fit to write the exams.

"The person in question is one of the final year Senior Secondary School students that have enrolled for the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination and she's right here writing her exam. She is asymptomatic, which means she does not show any symptoms, and she's stable. She is just here to observe her two weeks isolation process," Dr. Oladiji-Lambe said.

"We have certified that she's both mentally and physically fit to write her exams. She was in close contact with a close relative of her that tested positive. It was through contact tracing that she happened to be tested positive.

"The candidate was admitted on August 18. She missed a paper and we informed the authorities because as child advocates, once she had enrolled for WAEC, the government felt she has the right to write her papers. That's why the state government thought it wise to arrange for her in order not to miss other papers.

"The state government deemed it fit to arrange for her to have a safe place for her to write the exam without the fear of stigmatization or risk to other students."

Kwara currently has a total of 906 confirmed cases of COVID-19, out of which 186 are active while 687 have been managed and discharged. 23 persons have died of the pandemic in the state.

Similarly, The Lagos State Office of Education Quality Assurance (OEQA) embarked on a COVID-19 safety and hygiene compliance monitoring exercise in order to ensure that schools adhere strictly to the guidelines on the safe reopening of schools as specified by the Federal and the Lagos State Government.

Speaking during the exercise, the Director-General, and leader of the monitoring team, Abiola Seriki-Ayeni disclosed that all the schools visited on the first day of the WASSCE complied with all examination procedures and emphasized the need for school owners to maintain compliance with all stipulated health safety guidelines.

In her words, "We must not compromise standard but must ensure that there are checks in place against examination malpractice as well as against the spread of COVID-19 in all schools. The schools' management must disinfect the environment and make sure students sign in on arrival."

Noting the importance of adherence to guarantee the safety of students as the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) begin in Lagos State, Mrs. Seriki-Ayeni reiterated that schools are expected to have sanitation managers that will ensure all environmental and health protocols are observed.