Testing positive for COVID-19 did not stop a student in Gombe State from joining thousands of other students across Nigeria to write the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).
The Government Science Secondary School Gombe student took part in the Mathematics exam that was written on Monday, August 17, 2020, according to the Gombe government.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya’s spokesperson, Ismaila Uba Misilli, said in a statement the patient is an exchange student from Kaduna State.
He was immediately evacuated for isolation at state’s specialist hospital after he tested positive.
The unnamed student wrote his exam inside his isolation room on Monday with his specially-assigned invigilator decked out in protective gear.
“Today he is writing his examinations under safe condition in the isolation center with full joint supervision of Ministry of Education, WAEC and Task force on COVID-19,” Misilli said.
The exam, administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), 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An announcement earlier in July to restart the examinations on August 4 was subsequently withdrawn after the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, raised concerns about the safety of students with the coronavirus still active in many parts of the country.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.
Other exams for SSS 3, JSS 3, and Primary 6 students will take place across the country until November, but the resumption date for schools in general remains unknown.
Since Nigeria detected its first case of the coronavirus in late February, nearly 50,000 cases have been recorded across the country, with nearly 1,000 fatalities, as of August 16.
