Today the Halifax Regional Centre for Education announced that they will be removing exam exemptions for the last semester of the 2019-20 school year in hopes of "reducing the risk of infections by COVID-19". We as students believe that this decision was made unfairly since it directly targets and punishes students for an epidemic beyond our control. We strive towards maintaining our grades and attendance in hopes of removing the stress of taking an extra exam, especially considering that we are a few months away from pursuing post-secondary studies. Removing one of the largest motivators behind maintaining grades and attendance records will only lead towards increasing absences and a decreasing graduation rate. This decision was made unfairly by school administrators without the advice of students, a decision which will impact about 12,000 high school students. We should have been represented, and we simply were not. Nova Scotia's Department of Health and Wellness has created a mandate to combat COVID-19, of which removing exam exemptions are simply not part of it. The HRCE should have taken this epidemic day-by-day to create a plan which would not affect students two months down the line. This decision took less time than it did to decide whether or not international school trips were to go ahead. We should have been informed, and our voices should have been heard, but once again they were not. We should not be held accountable for something way beyond our control.