124,000 Students Begin State Examinations

Around 124,000 students across Ireland have begun their Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle examinations today, Wednesday 05 June.

Exams will be overseen in over 5,000 centres across the country, with English being one of the first subject areas to be assessed.

Two extra days have been added to the Leaving Cert timetable this year in the hopes of reducing stress and subject clashes.

Government ministers Joe McHugh, Mary Mitchell O'Connor and John Halligan have wished all those taking exams in the next few weeks the best luck.

Deputy McHugh, the Minister for Education and Skills said: "These exams are the culmination of many days and nights of hard work and I wish you the very best wherever they take you.

"The exams are a milestone in your education and you shouldn't lose sight of the fact that there are many paths to a rewarding life.

"There are now more options and opportunities for you than ever before, whether your focus is on a skill, a trade, a college or university course or all the new and older apprenticeships and traineeships."

Exam schedules have been amended this year to facilitate a more compassionate approach for students who suffer a close family bereavement while undertaking their Leaving Cert.

At Junior Cycle level, students undertaking exams in English and Business Studies have already completed work accounting for 10% of their final marks.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor, the Minister of State for Higher Education said: "Over the next fifteen days Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate students will be working hard to demonstrate all they have learned over the last few years. It is a challenging time for all, but don't forget that you are more than the outcomes of an examination. Your future is what you make of it.

"Keep in mind all that you have learnt in school beyond your academic subjects. Your skills of communication, resilience and decision-making, your entrepreneurial skills, creativity and your confidence. Many of these skills are the very attributes that can help you when facing into these certificate examinations.

"A group deserving of special mention at this time are the mature students who have chosen to sit the Certificate examinations. Some of these students are parents of students doing exams themselves. You have taken the brave step of returning to education."

Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation and Research and Development, John Halligan T.D, encouraged students to remember that examinations are not the only route to a successful career.

He said: "While I acknowledge the importance of these examinations for all of you, I encourage you not to lose sight of the full range of opportunities open to you, from higher and further education to traineeships and apprenticeships. Or should you decide to enter directly into the world of work I wish you well. But keep in mind the possibility of returning to education or training as a mature student or, more importantly, understand and maximise the opportunities open to you through the world of lifelong learning."



(JG/CM)