The HSC could be delayed in New South Wales until November with only major subjects examined in face-to-face tests.
The NSW government also seems set to extend the lockdown in regional NSW until the end of September, in line with the lockdown in greater Sydney.
Announcements are expected on the lockdown and a possible small relaxation of some restrictions for fully vaccinated people on Thursday, after a meeting of the state’s crisis cabinet late on Wednesday. Discussions about the roadmap for schools and the HSC are continuing.
NSW announced a record 919 local Covid cases on Wednesday.
Amid the deteriorating conditions in NSW, education authorities have been discussing the future of the HSC with the NSW Education Standards Authority.
Among the options are delaying the HSC to November and limiting face-to-face exams to only the major subjects, such as English and Maths. Other scenarios include allowing the HSC exams to proceed in areas with low or no Covid cases only.
But such an approach would raise equity issues, particularly as it would hit the 12 local government areas of concern disproportionally hard.
The government has been trying to vaccinate all HSC students in those areas, but it would require a major logistical exercise to ensure that exams could be conducted safely.
Prior to Wednesday’s crisis cabinet meeting, the deputy premier, John Barilaro, gave a broad hint about the fate of regional NSW, as Covid-19 cases continued to spread in the state’s west, with mounting cases in the central coast and the Illawarra, and Covid detected in sewage on the South Coast.
“We haven’t made any decision around extension of these restrictions of lockdown for regional NSW but as you can see in the numbers, the central west isn’t getting better, the far west, Hunter and New England even though under control still has cases, the central coast, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Wollongong the highest number of cases in the up way, Shellharbour, in Canberra, which does put pressure on southern NSW,” he said.
He said sewerage in Merimbula was registering high levels of Covid fragments.
“You’ve got to manage all of that and the reality is, it is about protecting lives and making sure we don’t lose control in regional and rural NSW,” Barilaro said.
