The impact of the teachers? work to rule action was clear on Wednesday when spoke with students from the Island?s two public senior schools.

Many students could not sit their Terra Nova exams on Tuesday, because teachers refused to do any duties outside their contracts. Teachers normally act as invigilators for the exams.

One girl said she was ?vexed? that she could not take the test and generally ?sad about not taking it?.

?I really wanted to take it because it would have been better than just sitting in class,? she said.

Some students said that teachers had not told them when the retest was scheduled for ? or if there would be one at all.

One of them heard that the retest would be in the summer when they ?did not want to have to come back to school?.

Another girl also said she was happy not to take the test right now but that ?not taking it might affect us later on?.

?Some people might be dumb or slow,? she said, ?and people won?t know if they don?t take the test.?

A male CedarBridge student said that teachers? action has affected the number of extra curricular activities and in-school community service hours students could acquire in 2004.

He said that in order for S1 and S2 CedarBridge students to graduate to the next year they needed 20 hours of extra-curricular activity and ten hours of community service ? five hours in school and five hours outside.

He said that he was not sure what S3 students needed.

Two other boys said some teachers ?were not marking at home? and students had to help some teachers mark tests in class.

But many S1 and S2 students were happy that they did not take the test.

?I don?t think Terra Nova should happen at all,? he said.

?We have a whole lot to do all day anyway. But we can?t do nothing. They don?t even let us use the bathrooms. Which are never clean. Terra Nova is not helping us.?

?We already have projects and tests for class to study for.?

Other students said the teachers? action was having little effect on them.

?It doesn?t really affect us at all,? said Berkeley student on Tuesday. ?Not the S3s and S4s. It?s mostly affecting the S1s and S2s because they have to take the Terra Nova tests.?

The older classes are missing out on ?Advisory?, a time set aside at the end of the day ?for us to go over the day with the teachers?, one girl said. ?But advisory?s boring anyway, so that?s alright.?

?It?s really affecting the primary school students,? another Berkeley student added.

Because teachers were refusing to supervise lunchtimes at the primary schools, all the primary school students are being forced to stay indoors for their lunch hour. ?I think that?s really selfish of them,? one girl said.

The students spoke in admiration of one teacher who is not participating in the work-to-rule, adding they felt the other teachers should not be so greedy. ?You have to be in it for the job,? one said.