Students pushed to ignore Covid rules by rigid exam rules, association says

Tens of thousands of students are being pushed to ignore coronavirus measures and quarantine rules by their educational institution's strict test policy, student organization ISO said to NU.nl. At least six institutions are using the "normal" resit policy, which means that students unable to write the test due to illness - or quarantine - will have to write at the resit. Which means they miss a testing chance, ISO said.

The University of Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam, Eindhoven University of Technology, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Saxion Hogescholen, and HAN University all use this policy. They have over 160,000 students. Many of them may feel forced to write a test even if they have Covid-19 symptoms so that they don't miss their chance. "That situation is not desirable," an ISO spokesperson said to the newspaper.

Usually, if you fail a test, you have another chance to pass it at the resit. But if you missed the original test date due to illness, the resit is your only chance to pass.

Students sounded the alarm at ISO, telling the organization of fellow students who went to school with coronavirus symptoms or after close contact with a Covid-19 patient because they didn't want to miss the test. Het Parool wrote about students going to write their test even after testing positive for Covid-19. "We also received those signals," the ISO spokesperson said to NU.nl. "Not enough is happening at institutions to prevent this situation."

Several educational institutions are making exceptions for Covid-19, giving students an extra chance if they have to quarantine during the test time. ISO wants this to be standard practice at every educational institution.