While voters in Mayo take to the polls today to select three MEPs, 31 new county councillors and nine town councillors in each of Westport, Ballina and Castlebar, the candidates themselves will be settling in for a long weekend at the count centres.
The hard grafting has been done, every hand shook, promises made, apologies offered, strategies discussed and now it’s up to the electorate to decide who is worthy of their vote.
But while the excitement mounts in the TF Royal Hotel on Saturday morning as boxes are opened, the tallying begins and candidates try to keep the nerves at bay, a different sort of nervousness will be brewing across Mayo.
The cock up that is the Leaving Cert English paper two mess will see up to 50,000 students having to sit one of the most dreaded exams on Saturday morning.
The upset this will cause to all involved is incalculable as students preparing for State exams, for the most part, prepare meticulous study timetables for revision during the exams themselves.
Saturday morning would have been set aside for one of the subjects early next week and this unforeseen turn of events will leave students shaken and panicked.
With 36 poems to study for on the higher level paper alone, predictions will have been made by teachers across the country about what to expect. This is part and parcel of a course as large and diverse as the English syllabus but all of this hard work will be thrown into disarray.
Teachers and students alike will now be wracking their brains to try to guess what could possibly appear on the contingency paper which was prepared months ago for all subjects in case of such a leak or other problems.
A helpline has been set up for students affected by the cancellation of the Leaving Cert English Higher and Ordinary level paper on 1800 713 913 and the website is www.examinations.ie
But heads must roll for this error. The distress, upset and worry it has and is causing is phenomenal. Apparently the superintendent who handed out paper two by accident in a Drogheda school has been suspended but the fact that this superintendent didn’t notify the State Examinations Commissions of the error must be viewed in a serious manner.
Had the Commission being informed of the leak immediately it may have been possible to distribute the contingency paper across the country in time for students to sit the exam as scheduled yesterday morning. But instead this person kept quiet and it wasn’t until concerned parents informed the school principal of what had happened that action was taken.
By this time the students who had enjoyed a glimpse of the paper had posted what they’d seen on websites and blogs. The digital era meant that news travelled fast and the Commission were left with no option but to re-schedule the exam.
The Leaving Cert is without a doubt the most important exam of a student’s life. It’s the most difficult, the most nerve wracking, and holds the most weight. Yes college exams are important too, but nothing will ever match the Leaving Cert and it is imperative now that those correcting the English paper two are instructed to take into consideration this awful, embarrassing mess, which has thrown two years of preparation into complete disarray.
Toni Bourke Editor [email protected]
