Although Finland is gradually opening back up, with many of the restrictions imposed to hinder the spread of the coronavirus being lifted, the national Matriculation Examination Board continues to follow a strict set of precautions.
"If there are any symptoms related to the coronavirus, you are not allowed to participate in the exams," says Tiina Tähkä, Secretary General of the Matriculation Examination Board. Exam monitors are also banned from taking part if they are ill or exhibiting even minor symptoms.
While this applies to all participants, a second dose of a coronavirus vaccine, no less than a week before sitting the exams, does prevent students who have been exposed outside their family circle from being subjected to quarantine.
Two vaccinations do not, however, free students from the requirement to use facemasks. Ari Huovinen, the principal of Helsinki's Ressu High School, says that students are being allowed to bring a supply of masks, hand disinfectant and transparent bags for clean and used masks into the examination room. Huovinen's school is also advising students to bring snacks and water from home.
Entrance to examination rooms is also being staggered to avoid close contact.
Avoiding delay
The matriculation examination is a series of exams generally taken at the end of the upper secondary school to qualify for entry into university. Its purpose is to measure the knowledge and skills required by the upper secondary school curriculum and to evaluate whether they have reached an adequate level of maturity in line with the goals of general upper secondary education.
A delay in sitting and passing the examination can set back plans to apply for higher education.
Yle found that some high school graduates, for example in the west coast city of Kokkola, brought forward their appointments for a second vaccination because their original times would have come very close to the start of exams. Even a minor reaction to the jab could prevent participation.
Asked by Yle, both Ressu high school's Huovinen and the the principal of Vaasa Lyceum in the city of Vaasa, Jaakko Perttu, agreed that students displaying reactive symptoms from a fresh vaccination have to stay away.
"It's not worthwhile getting a vaccine jab the day before. It's bad timing, Perttu said.
In Seinäjoki, however, school officials are being more lenient.
"Those [post-jab symptoms] start quickly after vaccination, and if the symptoms can be clearly linked to the vaccination, then I don't think it will prevent taking part in the exams," local principal Teijo Päkkilä told Yle.
In these cases, the national Matriculation Examination Board is willing to leave the decision up to local health authorities.
Special arrangements
Some high schools have been able to arrange for quarantined students to participate in student exams by setting up separate facilities where they can be isolated from their peers.
One such school is Vaasa Lyceum, where principal Perttu explained that the practice, formulated in cooperation with health authorities in the spring of 2021, requires some special arrangements.
Any quarantined student wishing to sit the exams must take a coronavirus test the day before. He or she is not permitted to use public transport to get to the exam site. The quarantine hall has its own entrance.
"It leads to a kind of intermediate holding area, where healthcare officials check the previous day's test results, take the student's temperature and evaluate their general well-being," Perttu explained.
If no symptoms are evident and the test result is negative, the student is allowed to continue into the quarantine facility for the exam.