Examinations start today

A TOTAL of 74,982 Grade 10 students will be sitting their national examinations today as scheduled.
Jubilee Catholic Secondary School principal Barbara Miles told The National that the outcome of the examinations would depend on how students understood questions and responded.
“It really depends on how students understand the exam questions as all they need to know have been taught; it is how they read and understand the questions in order to answer,” she said.
“The teachers have done what they could do in order to prepare them well.”
Miles said even though there disruptions, teachers worked extra hard to ensure most topics were covered before the exams.
She said 345 Grade 10s would occupy most of their classrooms and grades 9s and 11s would be at home, while Grade 12s were allowed to attend classes because their exams would be next.
“The grade 10s will be occupying all the classrooms due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) protocols,” Miles said.
She said there would not be a problem for students who would be staying at home, as teachers had prepared enough lessons for them to do while at home.
Port Moresby National High School principal David Diowai said his Grade 12s were well-prepared to sit the exams in the coming week to maintain their top position in the country.
“Though there are some issues with Covid-19, we hope that nothing will happen in the city to disrupt the exams,” he said.
Education secretary Dr Uke Kombra said Grade 12s would sit for their exams from Oct 18-22 and Grade 8s from Oct 25-28. He said a total of 31,817 Grade 12s and 137,769 Grade 8s would be sitting exams.