Saturday July 11, 2020
MOGADISHU (HOL) - Thousands of grade 8 students are sitting for their final exams today in Somalia in the midst of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has seen schools countrywide closed.
The students from Banaadir regions and federal member states sat for the first paper Saturday morning with regional education ministers overseeing the exercise. Pictures from some exam centres show students wearing masks.
There was no immediate information on the number of the students sitting for this year’s exams but about 30,000 sat for nationalized test last year.
The state news agency SONNA reported that 2500 students in Galmudug are sitting for the exam while in Jubbaland over 2,300 students are partaking the test.
The Federal Government introduced the standardized national exams for primary schools in 2015 with the first batch of 7,000 sitting for the test.
The number of students sitting for the test has gradually risen to over 20,000. Only Puntland whose students started the test last week does not subscribe to the national exam.
Secondary schools will be starting their final exams next week.
The government announced last week schools will reopen next month while universities will resume their studies in September.
Somalia has since registered 3,038 COVID-19 as of this week with 92 fatalities.