Grade 10 students at a permitted private school, kickstarted this week’s National Exam, with their Math and Personal Development papers today, joining more than 70,000 Grade 10s in both private and public schools.
Deputy Principal Ms. Rogana Pawai said Kopkop College’s registered status amongst 57 other private schools in NCD, gives them this opportunity to oversee the National Examination similarly to any other government-run schools in PNG.
The exam papers were handed by the Measurement Services Division to all school principals in NCD last Thursday, while an external invigilator is now present at the school to monitor during this week’s exam.
Amidst this challenging time, Ms. Pawai advises all Grade 10’s, “Do not enter an exam room with doubt but be confident in your thoughts knowing that you can and you will do it. When you allow doubt to creep in you are likely to deter your judgement.”
Kopkop College has performed well in previous years’ examinations of which a good number of its students continue to be chosen under the top five category to attend the National High Schools including Port Moresby, Sogeri, Passam, Aiyura and Keravat National High Schools.
“Again, this year we are very confident with our current Grade 10’s and are expecting some good results from them,” she added.
Following on from last years’ experience, Ms. Pawai believes their teachers have certainly learnt lessons from COVID-19 and have settled into a new way of managing their time and coming up with creative ways to cover lessons.
“For us teachers it has been very challenging. The lockdown ripped us from our teaching time. We have never faced this before. When COVID came in we had to readjust and complete the exams in time.”
“Our teachers have done well and there’s no topic that wasn’t covered. COVID made us realize that emergencies are bound to happen and moving forward we are now more prepared. Whatever else comes our way be it Covid or other we are now more than ready. “
Kopkop College, a permitted private school which offers classes from Day-Care to Grade 12, continues to follow its strict KC C-19 Protocol as this week’s exam similarly saw strict health measures put in place.
The Department of Education has since notified all schools of the exam procedures and appealed for strict compliance. They include: strict administering of exam timing by external invigilator, penalty on cheating, malpractices must be reported immediately by responsible authorities and ban on all mobile phones.