We as third year students are concerned with the current plans for writing exams on campus. We have the following concerns/queries:

1. While the University has stated that it will do everything in its power to implement safety procedures, it cannot guarantee that students will not contract Covid-19 while on campus as symptoms only develop after the fact and many people are symptomless. Without making it compulsory for all students returning to campus to be tested the University cannot ensure that the virus will not be spread by students while on campus. 
2. This is especially concerning for students who are at risk, or who live with at-risk persons. While medical certification can be provided for students who are at risk, it is far more difficult to present such certification for at-risk family members or those who live with people over the age of 65. Will the university consider this?
3. For students who have cancelled their leases or live in other provinces, the University has suggested specific accommodations for those students to make use of. However, once again can the University guarantee these students will not contract Covid-19 while residing in these accommodations? Has the University considered that students may not even be able to afford such accommodation and related cost of living expenses such as transport, food etc. at a time where many students/parents have been retrenched from their places of work? These accommodations may not even be conducive to adequate final exam preparations as moving into a foreign environment a few weeks before an exam adds to the stress and inconvenience levels of the students.
4. What will happen to students who show symptoms (such as a high temperature) on the day of the exam when they arrive on campus? Will they be allowed to write, thus putting other students at risk or will they be prevented from writing entirely and what will the procedure be in this instance?
5. Students have not written sit-down examinations the entire year and are therefore severely unprepared for such a test (especially the final examination which for many students is their final opportunity to get their degree) as it is in a completely different format. Even writing by hand has become unfamiliar this year as we have been made to type almost all submitted work.
6. While it has been stated that sit-down examinations are necessary for final year students to maintain the integrity of their degrees, this mindset has not been adopted by other universities within South Africa such as UJ, Stellenbosch and  UCT (as communicated to their students) but more to the point by other faculty’s within the University of Pretoria. Does this mean that these students’ degrees are somehow worth less or alternatively that their safety or the safety of their families is more important?
7. As students have written online tests and examinations this entire year, the University of Pretoria has demonstrated that these online tests and exanimations do in fact work. As the majority of EMS modules are theoretical, we see no reason as to why students should be required to write in person and therefore risk contracting Covid-19. It would be different if these were practical modules.

We feel that the University needs to be reminded that this is an extraordinary year with extraordinary circumstances. The University needs to be cognizant of its students' mental health and emotional distress owing to the overall situation experienced this year. We therefore ask the EMS faculty to reconsider the decision to enforce sit-down examinations.