No COVID Cases Among Class 10-12 Students Who Gave Exams: Kerala Minister

Kerala has successfully conducted exams for 13 lakh students of classes 10-12 and has reported no cases of the coronavirus infection among students, Kerala Finance Minister Dr Thomas Isaac tweeted today.

The encouraging update was shared a fortnight after the state completed the exercise.

The coronavirus disease takes about five to 14 days to manifest symptoms among patients.

14 days ago 13 lakh school students completed school final exams in Kerala. Not a single student affected by Covid. It was meticulously planned: schools sanitised. Masks distributed to all. Thermal readings mandatory. Physical distancing ensured. Operation success.#covidkerala

Thomas Isaac (@drthomasisaac) June 15, 2020

Dr Isaac detailed how the state machinery's meticulous planning and implementation of COVID-19 prevention protocols - sanitising schools, distributing masks, thermal scanning and physical distancing besides other measures - ensured its children remained safe.

Before conducting the exams, the state had procured 5,000 infrared thermometres to screen students and over 25 lakh masks were provided over the five-day duration of the exams held across 3,000 centres.

Health workers were assigned to oversee the screening of students and even extra teachers were hired for this duration, Director For Public Instruction Jeevan Babu had told NDTV earlier.

Students, who could not take the exams this time, will be given another chance through Save A Year (SAY) exams but as regular students and not as SAY enrollees.

States have had to cancel school and college exams after the March 25 lockdown to break the chain of transmission. Many states have since expressed inability to conduct exams as cases rise in the country, where more than 3.43 lakh have been affected by the coronavirus disease and 9,900 have died.

While some have promoted students based on internal assessment, others deferring exams indefinitely.

Kerala, which reported the first three coronavirus cases in the country, had 2,543 patients and 20 deaths as on June 16.