Hungary high school exams begin despite virus lockdown

BUDAPEST: Thousands of Hungarian students began qualifying exams on Monday even though schools at large remained closed while the country started to ease out of its coronavirus lockdown.

Last week Prime Minister Viktor Orban allowed a partial relaxing of curfew restrictions outside of Budapest, but schools are to remain shut at least until the end of May.

More than 80,000 students and 6,000 teachers are expected to attend some 1,000 centres nationwide for the annual school-leaving exam in the coming weeks.

Most students, who have been home-schooled since mid-March, are expected to take the exams this month, though they have the option of sitting them in the autumn instead.

Schools were disinfected before pupils arrived on Monday for what a local media report described as the "strangest exams in decades". No more than 10 pupils may sit written exams per classroom at any time, while desks are set 1.5 metres (five feet) apart.

Precautions include requiring pupils to wear masks while walking in corridors, and in most subjects oral exams are waived as a way to limit close contact.

At the entrance to one Budapest school, staff wearing rubber gloves handed out masks to students and asked them to use hand sanitisers. "It was weird, to go in and sit there without really socialising with your classmates whom I hadn´t seen in a month," a student told the HVG.hu website.

"It was difficult to do the exams in a mask while wearing glasses, as they steamed up every few minutes," another said.

The government´s decision not to postpone the exams drew some criticism.

Teachers unions protested that it put students and teachers -- particularly older ones -- attending the exams at risk of infection. One union even called for a boycott.

Local media quoted some parents as complaining that their children could not prepare enough because of inadequate digital learning equipment at home.

Hungary, with a population of almost 10 million, reported more than 3,000 Covid-19 infections and 351 deaths as of Monday.