MAKE RIGHT DECISION ON PREDICTIVE GRADES NOW
A LEAVING Cert student who organised an online petition against Sixth year pupils returning to school for three days a week, has insisted the decision on whether to offer predicted grades again this year must come now.
‘I’d have absolutely no confidence in this Government making the right decision on predictive grades,’ Caoimhe Dunne said.
The 18-year-old, who attends Portlaoise College in Co. Laois, added: ‘Initially, they acted in their own self interest when they decided that the Dáil could only sit once a week for six hours and yet it was okay for 35 students to sit close together for eight hours a day three times a week.
‘They didn’t give the interests and the welfare of students any consideration then, and but for the stance taken by the ASTI, fair play to them, they wouldn’t have budged on the issue so why would I expect them to take students’ concerns into consideration this time around?
‘I’m delighted with the decision being reversed but it came as a result of outside pressure, not the Government admitting they had made the wrong call in the first place. They made a political decision, not one that considered us students.
‘It was almost as if Norma Foley was going to call up the virus and tell it which days it couldn’t attack certain schools – it was just ridiculous.’
Ms Dunne also said that students needed clarity and that the authorities have to act now regarding a decision on predictive grades.
She added: ‘It has to be now, last year they didn’t make a decision until, I think, May, which was way too late. They have a month now where there are no pupils in classrooms so they have that kind of grace period to get it right.
‘Postpone the Leaving Cert or implement predicted grades now. Not months down the line – now. We cannot sit a full Leaving Cert as normal due to the time we have missed. Courses are not complete and will not be completed in this short amount of time.
‘Students’ mental and physical health needs to be put before the exams.’
Meanwhile, Kaitlyn Moran, head girl and Leaving Cert student in Claregalway College, Co. Galway, agreed, saying students are ‘already sick with worry’ and should be offered the option of predicted grades, combined with the opportunity to sit the exam if they are not happy with their predicted grades.
‘We didn’t want to go to school this week because we thought it wasn’t safe. Now the department has to tell us what they intend to do with the Leaving Certificate,’ she said.
‘It’s a very scary time for students and they want reassurances. People who are in private education and from the higher socio-economic groups are not as badly affected by this virus. But poorer students are bearing the brunt.’