Schools remain closed till end of June, A Levels postponed, O Levels cancelled

by Gozo News · March 28, 2020

Decisions regarding schools, examinations and educational institutions in light of the Covid-19 situation, have been announced by Minister for Education and Employment Owen Bonnici, including that schools and educational institutions will remain closed until the end of June – the end of the scholastic year.

Other decisions are that every student who is in Year 4 will progress to Year 5 and every student in Year 5 will progress to Year 6 automatically, in the same class he or she is in.

In the case of students who are in Year 6, their mark will be based on assessment. This means that the Year 6 benchmark will not be done, The Minister said.

Students who are in Year 7, 8, 9 and 10, will progress to their next year in the same group respectively.

He said that SEC examinations (O Levels) will not be done, instead a predictive assessment method undertaken by MATSEC will instead be utilised.

The Minister advised that this will be based on the marks obtained during the mock exams. To establish the result, MATSEC will take into consideration the students’ marks, the corrected examination papers and the marking schemes that were used.

A certificate will then be issued by MATSEC to successful students, showing whether Level 2 or Level 3 was reached. This certificate will allow students with the opportunity to progress into post-secondary schools.

Opportunity will be also given to students, if they wish to do so, to sit for the SEC examinations during the September session.

Intermediate and A Level exams will be postponed to September of this year. Students will be receiving timetables and all details.

The re-sit session will be done in December. This being said, all the necessary provisions will be undertaken so that students be given the opportunity to enrol into University, MCAST or other educational institutions in the coming academic year, the Minister said.

In the case of students who are currently undergoing their studies in University, MCAST or other educational institutions, the necessary arrangements will be done so that they are able to continue their studies.

Minister Bonnici concluded by saying that “online teaching will, of course, continue, and we encourage all students, irrespective of whether they are kids or young people, to continue with their learning and studies.”