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Seven WASSCE Candidates Test Positive For COVID-19 in Gombe
By Emmanuel Awosika
No fewer than seven students from Government Girls Secondary School in Doma, Gombe State, have tested positive for COVID-19.
Earlier this month, the Federal Government authorized the partial reopening of secondary schools to allow students in graduating classes – SSS 3 and JSS 3 – write their exams.
Addressing newsmen, Commissioner for Education, Haba Dahiru, stated that the Gombe State government had tested up 1,100 students since their resumption.
Dahiru said the students who tested positive for the virus were also writing the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Exam (WASSCE), adding that the state government would ensure they wrote the exam along with their colleagues.
He said, “We gave preference to students returning from epicentre states like Kaduna, Kano, Yobe and Lagos; those places that have registered high cases of COVID-19. So far, we have tested 1,100 cases, out of which the first case from Government Science Secondary School.
“He was immediately evacuated and isolated. He has written his first paper, Mathematics, and he is writing Agricultural Science today. It will be demoralising for him if we don’t allow him to write his exams.
“The government of Gombe State under the leadership of governor Inuwa Yahaya said all students found to be positive for the virus should be taken care of. We have identified another set of students. We only got the results yesterday. Seven of them have been found to test positive for the virus. We are making arrangements to evacuate them to the isolation centre.
“We will not allow them to miss their papers because they tested positive. The testing became easier because the governor approved N120 million to set up a molecular laboratory. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has certified it and we have started testing in earnest.
“The samples taken from schools were tested here in Gombe at the molecular lab and results were shared. We went to the school to identify the seven students and kept them aside.”
