Over one million matric candidates sat for their first exam on 5 November under strict conditions brought about by the novel coronavirus. 

Two weeks after some teacher unions lambasted the department of basic education’s decision to allow matric candidates to sit for their exam, even if they test positive for the coronavirus, 93 candidates have since contracted the virus. 

Although candidates who record a temperature higher than 38°C during the screening process before sitting for the national senior certificate exam are allowed to write, they must do so in isolation and only if they are deemed able to sit for the exam. 

The isolation room, according to the Protocol on the Writing of the 2020 Examinations in Compliance with Covid-19 Requirements, can be an open, well defined and visible space such as a veranda, corridor or passage, provided it is isolated from other people. 

The Gauteng Department of Education, with just 9 reported cases since the exams commenced, will from Monday 16 November quarantine every candidate that consistently records a temperature higher than 38°C at Nasrec in Johannesburg for 10 days. 

“Candidates will be provided with educational facilities, health care, catering and all other requirements in compliance with the health protocols,” said department spokesperson Steve Mabona in a statement. 

“The Department of Health will facilitate EMS to transport candidates from their homes to the said quarantine site,” the statement continued. 

The department said its decision was prompted by an exponential increase (9 cases) in Covid-19 cases in the province. 

The Eastern Cape, on the one hand, accounted for 53 of the 93 Covid-19 cases recorded in the two weeks of the start of the matric exams. 

“Some of these learners are in isolation at home. All of them have been allowed to write in isolation,” said spokesperson Vuyiseka Mboxela.

Though the province recorded the highest number of covid-19 infections since the start of the exam, Mboxela said these are not as a result of cluster outbreaks and the cases are evenly spread across various school districts in the province. 

“But we must indicate that what is unfolding at Nelson Mandela Metro is worrying. If we are to have a bigger outbreak in a school it would be catastrophic for us because as the health system tries to control the number of public infections, it would need to give special attention to learners”. 

In the Western Cape, 10 Covid-19 positive cases were recorded since the exams started, and the department told Daily Maverick it has made arrangements for isolated quarantine venues in buildings outside of schools. 

“Covid-19 positive candidates cannot write at a school, therefore alternative venues have been sought across the Province so that these learners can be assisted,” Mboxela said.

Nkosiphendule Ntantala, the president of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) said the department of basic education committed that the department of health will work with provincial education departments to identify quarantine sites or isolation sites for learners who test positive for the virus. 

There were a few cases, however, where schools did not isolate students or candidates who recorded a high temperature and could potentially be infected with the virus. 

“If we allow Covid-19 positive learners to use the same venue, we run the risk of having many learners in the examination centres and invigilators being infected,” he said. DM