Mexican students take college entrance exam amid pandemic
MEXICO CITY Tens of hundreds of potential scholars hoping to get into Mexicos biggest public college on Wednesday started taking the notoriously aggressive front examination for the Nationwide Independent College of Mexico, higher referred to as the UNAM.
Held every 12 months, it’s the examination of an entire life and and an annual ceremony: Simplest about one in 14 scholars gets into the undergraduate stage program.
It used to be an bizarre scene because of the coronavirus pandemic. Strains of scholars dressed in face mask and face shields sat at a secure distance from every different at the concrete seats of UNAMs football stadium. Of the 84,000 scholars taking the examination, best five,993 gets in.
It used to be additionally a lonelier scene than in most cases: The throngs of fogeys and full households that most often accompany the scholars and hover outdoor for harmony have been informed through the college to stick house to steer clear of crowds that may unfold the coronavirus.
Some did come, however outdoor the stadium there’s a giant enough room in order that they might stay a secure distance,mentioned Macarena Blando of the UNAM press place of work.
Whilst the UNAM is making plans to carry maximum categories on-line or at-distance within the upcoming semester, college government determined that the stern safety features wanted for the doorway examination no papers, no speaking and no mobile phone or digital units are allowed all over the examination required in-person trying out.
Some colleges in Mexico are experimenting with taking checks through Zoom or video calls, the place docents can apply test-takers to verify they’re now not dishonest. However such is the significance of the nationwide college check and the anger over scandals previously over alleged dishonest or examination questions leaking out previously that the college made scholars display up in consumer.
Scholars covered up at a secure distance and have been allowed into the stadium one at a time. Each and every exam-taker some take the once a year examination two or 3 times ahead of passing entered with only a pencil and photocopies in their ID; every had his or her temperature taken and used to be given hand sanitizer gel.
It used to be decidedly low-tech: Each and every exam-taker held a board on their knees and stuffed out a paper replica of the examination, which has 120 questions. The scholars shall be on tenterhooks till effects are launched on Sept. 21.
It’s tougher to pay attention, to be relaxed, with the face protect and the face masks and the whole thing, mentioned Jazmin Arriaga, 17, who needs to get a pharmaceutical stage. However the arduous section is principally the check.
The surreal scene an enormous sports activities stadium with hundreds sitting about 6 toes (2 meters) from every different in entire silence mirrored the sheer scale of the UNAM’s primary campus at the south facet of Mexico Town.
The 435-acre (176 hectare) primary campus serves a couple of quarter-million undergraduate and graduate scholars.
It used to be the primary time in contemporary reminiscence the UNAM’s monumental Olympic Stadium were used for the check, partly as a result of professionals say its tougher to unfold the virus in an open-air environment and the primary time the stadium had other folks sitting within the bleachers for the reason that pandemic hit Mexico in March. Whilst skilled football suits have resumed in Mexico, they’re all performed in closed stadiums and not using a spectators.
Even so, with social distancing, now not all may just have compatibility into the stadium and lots of shall be examined on different days.
Much less orderly crowds happened over the weekend when checks have been held at websites around the town for the risk to go into top colleges affiliated with UNAM and different universities. Police blocked streets in some puts to deal with the throngs.
The ones checks had been the door to a greater existence for generations of working- and middle-class youths. If they’re authorized into the UNAMs highschool program, they’re confident access into the one in every of Latin Americas maximum prestigious universities if they may be able to take care of first rate grades.
For plenty of on this country of virtually 130 million, the country’s important college could also be their best hope of a faculty training. The UNAM fees annual tuition an identical to simply about $nine in line with scholar, a charge that hasn’t been up to date for the reason that 1960s and which comes nowhere close to overlaying the price of their training. The federal government closely subsidizes the college.
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