COVID-19 patient writes WASSCE from isolation in Kwara

A 16-year-old candidate who tested positive for COVID-19 in Kwara State on Wednesday wrote her papers in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination from a special isolation place.

The unnamed female candidate wrote her Agricultural Science examination under the supervision of an invigilator who was fully kitted in a Personal Protective Equipment.

The Team Lead/Manager Case Management Team, Kwara COVID-19/Infectious Diseases Centre, Dr Kudirat Oladeji-Lambe, while speaking to newsmen in Ilorin on Wednesday, said the candidate is asymptomatic, stable, and fit to write the exams.

She said, “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.

“We have certified that she’s both mentally and physically fit to write her exams. She was a 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 yesterday (Tuesday). She missed a paper yesterday 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 safe place for her to write the exam without fear of stigmatisation or risk to other students.”