By Joel Adedeji, Ilorin
The Kwara State Government has specially arranged for a 16-year old girl currently in COVID-19 isolation centre to write his Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE).
The girl was at the centre at the instance of the Kwara State COVID-19/Infectious Disease Centre in Ilorin, the state capital.
Her name and school are being withheld from the press in line with COVID-19 rules to prevent her from an apparent stigma.
The student wrote her Agricultural Science paper on Wednesday under close supervision by an official of the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
Speaking with journalists, the Team Lead/Manager Case Management Team, Kwara COVID-19/Infectious Diseases Centre, Dr Kudirat Oladeji-Lambe, said the candidate was asymptomatic, stable, and fit to write the exams.
Her words; “The person in question is one of the final year Senior Secondary School students that have enrolled for the on-going 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”, Dr. Oladeji-Lambe said.
And he added; “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.”
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. Twenty three persons have died of the pandemic.