05/06/2009

Cost Of Exam Blunder €1M

It has been revealed that Thursday's Leaving Certificate foul-up will cost €1 million to the taxpayer.

The costs will be needed to compensate the 2,000 exam superintendents who must come in to oversee the exams on Saturday, as well as extra money for bus travel for students and overtime for teachers.

The news comes as the superintendent who gave out the wrong English papers in error on Wednesday morning at St Oliver's Community College in Drogheda, Co Louth, was been suspended for the rest of the exams and could possibly be refused future appointment to such work.

Yesterday, Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe apologised for the blunder where an exam paper was wrongly distributed.

English Paper Two was scheduled for Thursday morning but was cancelled after the wrong paper was given to students who were supposed to sit paper one.

The paper was collected and replaced by the correct examination paper within minutes, but students had already seen the contents of the second exam.

Mr O'Keeffe apologised to students and parents and said the decision to suspend the exam to a later date had been made in the best interests of all students.

The exam - English paper 2 at both higher and ordinary level - will now take place on Saturday at 9.30am. Some 51,800 students are affected: 34,500 at higher level and 17,300 at ordinary level.

(DW/JM)

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