Student to sit four Leaving Cert exams in one day

A 17-YEAR-OLD Lithuanian student will have to take four Leaving Cert exams in one day because of a clash in the timetable.

The student, who is not being named, will take her maths exam on Monday, June 14th. This will be followed by her Irish exam in the afternoon, then the Irish oral exam and, immediately afterwards, the Lithuanian language exam. This is 8½ hours of exams in the same day.

Her teacher, Teresa Walsh, said subjecting the student to a marathon of examination sitting was in breach of the Department of Education guidelines “to promote equality and to challenge unfair discrimination”.

She suggested that the student instead be allowed to take the examination on Tuesday afternoon, June 15th, when she will be free.

Ms Walsh said the department had not considered that it would be possible for a Lithuanian student to take an Irish exam in the Leaving Cert, as most Lithuanians would have come to Ireland after 2004 and would have been exempted from having to sit it.

However, Ms Walsh said the student was of exceptional ability and had got an A in Junior Cert Irish after only two years of study.

A statement from the State Examinations Commission (SEC) said such clashes were “unavoidable” where examinations in some 34 curricular and 15 non-curricular subjects such as Lithuanian were scheduled over a 13-day examining period.

A spokeswoman said the SEC’s approach is to put in place alternative arrangements. This sometimes means an extended period in the examination centre on the day in question, she added.