For many students around the world, the end of the school year is associated with increasingly high-stakes examinations. These exams play a decisive role in assessing students as they transition from one level of the education system to the next, or indeed, into the workplace. They also play a crucial role in limiting the effects of patronage and ensuring educational opportunities are accessible to students from disadvantaged backgrounds through academic excellence.

It is therefore distressing to see that many countries around the world are considering the cancellation of exams in the face of COVID-19. In the United Kingdom, for example, important exams such as GCSEs and A-Levels have been canceled, with students to be given grades estimated by their teachers. Coursework, homework, mock exams and unspecified “other evidence” will be taken into account when deciding on grades, with results likely to be compared centrally to take account of the fact that some school grades may be too generous or too harsh.

In the meantime, International Baccalaureate exams in May have been canceled globally due to the pandemic, affecting some 200,000 students worldwide. This includes thousands of students at 33 schools in Hong Kong: The pupils will instead be awarded a diploma or a course certificate, largely based on previously submitted coursework.

Diploma of Secondary Education exams, on the other hand, were initially confirmed in February by the SAR government to be proceeding as scheduled toward the end of March — before being abruptly delayed by another month just a week before the first exams were scheduled. Thankfully, they have now been allowed to go ahead.

Students should therefore be given the option to take their exams later in the year, should they choose, rather than being forced, to forfeit them altogether. There are even some expert recommendations that schools should reopen sooner rather than later

There are several reasons why a total cancellation of student examinations is unfair. Firstly, many students would have simply sailed into their mock exams, under the impression that this would be considered simply a “trial run” and the results did not matter much. If they had known that these exams would eventually be used as the basis for their final results as shown on the diploma or certificate, they would most certainly have approached them in a far more serious frame of mind. Yet now, no doubt to the dismay of many students, they are retroactively considered to be the final determinant of what is to appear on their report cards.

Secondly, children approach school life as well as exams in various ways, often indicative of their personalities. Many no less intelligent students plod through classes, easily distracted, before galvanizing themselves in the weeks and months before important exams and, ultimately, shining. Many of these students will feel utterly distressed that their final results will be based on teacher assessments of their earlier schoolwork rather than a final exam that never took place. A third reason is that, unfortunately, a lot of otherwise intelligent pupils may have a somewhat toxic relationship with their teachers, while some teachers may find certain students particularly likeable. It is only human nature that such diversity of relationships can affect the teachers’ allocation of grades based on subjective judgment and personal feelings.

Most of all, there is an element of injustice in retroactively changing the rules of the game so late in the day. Mock exams, to the dismay of many students, have suddenly become the final arbiter of their academic year’s performance on top of their teachers’ subjective assessment. Their situation is not helped by the fact there is little evidence to show that teachers are particularly proficient at projecting a candidate’s final exam results.

Students should therefore be given the option to take their exams later in the year, should they choose, rather than being forced, to forfeit them altogether. There are even some expert recommendations that schools should reopen sooner rather than later.

According to a recent study by the University College London, published in the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health publication in the UK, keeping children out of school has little impact on the spread of COVID-19. The modeling data, based on 16 studies covering COVID-19, the 2003 SARS outbreak and seasonal flu, predicts that school closures alone would prevent — to put it bluntly — only approximately 2 percent of deaths, far fewer than social-distancing measures. On the other hand, the impact of protracted school shutdowns on children’s education, mental health and family finances is likely to be immense.

Students in Hong Kong, therefore, should be thankful the majority of their exams were allowed to proceed as scheduled, particularly after warnings from student counseling group Hok Yau Club that they had been facing unprecedented levels of stress due to constant delays and a lack of information about the exams.

Hopefully, in the next few weeks and months, as social-distancing and various health measures start to make headway against this extremely disruptive pandemic, students around the world can again resume worrying more about their exams than about the health of their loved ones. With all the hard work they have already put in, they thoroughly deserve this chance.

The author is a visiting lecturer at the Education University of Hong Kong. She is also the artistic director of a local theater company, and coaches drama in several schools around Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.