Education Minister Norma Foley owes an apology to Junior Cert student for the unprecedented delay in releasing the Junior Cert results, according to Social Democrats Education Spokesperson Gary Gannon TD.
Speaking this morning following the announcement from the State Examinations Commission announced that Junior Cert results will be issued on November 23, Deputy Gannon has said that the delay has caused “a lot of worry and upset among students an their families.”
“Students, now in 5th year, use the results of the Junior Cert to inform their subject choices for the Leaving Cert. This has not been possible this year,” he says.
“Those students who have left school, and want to pursue an apprenticeship, have been left in a limbo because junior cert results are required for entry to courses.
“The purported reason for the delay is a shortage of examiners.
“However, a lack of examiners should have been apparent long before students sat their exams.
“So, why was nothing done to address this at the time? Importantly, what is now being done to ensure we are not back here, with a similar delay, next year?”
Gannon says that the “cavalier attitude” of Minister Foley and her Department “suggests that the Junior Cert is being downgraded and is viewed as unimportant.
“This is not the case and students, who put so much work into these exams, deserve much more. At the very least, they deserve an apology from the Minister for this extraordinary delay.”