THE 62,000 Leaving Certificate students who begin their exams this morning can look forward to the brightest prospects in years of employment or a college place.
Some 7,000 fewer students than in 1995 are completing second level education this year. At the same time, up to 1,000 extra places may be available at third level colleges this autumn. The number of people applying for places through the CAO is also down by about 3,500.
In the labour market, the economic boom has finally made a dent in youth unemployment. Almost 13,000 fewer 15 to 24 year olds were out of work in 1995 compared to a year previously, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office.
As a result, the points race should be less intense than in any other year this decade. Leaving Cert numbers are forecast to jump again to record levels next year, when the effect of the current "blip" the result of more students taking the transition year has passed.
The number of students entered for the Junior Certificate exams is up slightly, from 69,065 in 1995 to 69,878 this year. This unexpected increase may be due to fewer students leaving school early.
The Minister for Education last night extended her best wishes to the 130,000 exam candidates. Ms Breathnach assured students that this year's results would provide more information than in the past, a reform brought in as a result of errors made in the marking of last year's Leaving Cert art exam.
Official figures from the Department of Education show that Leaving Cert numbers are down from 68,492 in 1995 to 62,277 this year.
The fall is entirely due to the massive expansion in the transition year programme two years ago.
However, the drop is even greater when 1,278 students taking the first ever exams in the vocationally oriented Leaving Cert Applied programme are excluded. These are being examined on the first year of the programme, and will not leave school until next year.
The overall figure also includes a record 8,157 repeat students and 5,087 external candidates.
For the Department's examinations branch in Athlone, the annual exams are a massive undertaking. Students are taking more than 1.1 million papers in 4,800 centres around the State. Almost 6,000 examiners are being employed to mark the papers.
This year sees the earliest start since 1991. The Junior Cert end on June 19th, with the Leaving finishing two days later. The Department says schools will have the Leaving Cert results on Thursday, August 15th.
