Joint College Entrance Exam on April 25: 3 Earthquake Response Scenarios

Central News Agency (Reporter Hsu Chih-wei, Taipei, 15th) The 115th academic year Joint College Entrance Examination for Four-Year Colleges of Technology and Junior Colleges (hereinafter referred to as the Joint College Entrance Exam) will be held on April 25th and 26th. The Joint Entrance Examination Center for Colleges and Universities of Science and Technology announced three principles for responding to earthquakes. Depending on the level of danger, these are: continuing the exam, taking cover in place, or emergency evacuation. The handling method will be decided by the examination venue director. The 115th academic year Joint College Entrance Exam will be held on April 25th and 26th, with 65,802 candidates for the four-year colleges and junior colleges. The Joint Entrance Examination for Two-Year Colleges of Technology will be held on April 26th, with 5,766 candidates. The total number of registered candidates for both exams is 71,568, a new historical low. The Joint Entrance Examination Center today issued three principles for handling earthquakes during the Joint College Entrance Exam: "continue the exam," "take cover in place," and "emergency evacuation." If an earthquake occurs during the exam, the examination venue director will decide the handling method, and candidates must cooperate with the invigilators and broadcast instructions. If the earthquake does not cause damage and the examination room is judged to be safe with no risk of collapse, invigilators will maintain order, and candidates will continue the exam. If the earthquake shakes violently, invigilators will maintain order and ask candidates to place their test booklets and answer sheets on their desks, protect their heads and necks with their arms, and take cover in place in the examination room. After the earthquake ends, the exam will continue, and the time affected by the interruption will be extended for that session. If the earthquake is severe, with walls or beams deformed or at risk of collapse, the Examination Center stated that invigilators will maintain order and ask candidates to place their test booklets and answer sheets on their desks, cooperate with invigilators' instructions, quickly leave the examination room, and evacuate to a safe area. The divisional examination office will broadcast an announcement to suspend the exam, ask candidates to evacuate urgently, and pay attention to subsequent broadcast instructions. The Examination Center mentioned that it will remind examination areas to comprehensively inspect campus and classroom safety and ensure that examination staff are aware of how to handle earthquakes. If an earthquake occurs and the seismic intensity in the county or city government reaches level 5 or above, an earthquake warning message will be sent to people with 4G mobile phones in areas with seismic intensity level 4 or above. To prevent mobile phones from making noise due to warning messages and violating examination rules, candidates should not bring mobile phones into the examination room. The Examination Center suggests that candidates can hand their mobile phones to accompanying parents for safekeeping. If candidates still bring their mobile phones into the examination room, they must completely turn off their phones or remove the battery and place them in the designated area (temporary storage area). If a mobile phone makes a sound or vibrates, it will be considered a violation. (Editor: Chen Ching-fang) 1150415