‘We are expected to compete against each other when the race is unfair to begin with’

Emily Rafter is a sixth year student in Boyne Community School, Trim, and one of thousands of teenagers anxiously waiting on clarification whether this year’s Leaving Certificate examinations will go ahead on the rescheduled date of 29th July, and what format they will take. Here, Emily (pictured below) outlines her upset, frustration at a skewed process and anger that she and her fellow students have been ignored and abandoned

I’m here as a sixth year student sharing my opinions and response to the way the upcoming Leaving Certificate Examinations are being dealt with by the government and by Minister Joe McHugh. The devastating announcement given a mere few days ago has already taken a massive toll on the mental health and wellbeing of Leaving Certificate classes. The announcement to postpone the Leaving Certificate to late July has been one that will change my entire outlook on Ireland’s education system but also on where the priorities of the government lies, which is surely not with students.

These two weeks of exams supposedly decide the rest of our lives. For seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds the idea of this is incomprehensible, yet the pressure is so heavy. Keeping that in mind, for the last six years we have been working towards these life changing exams. Now add in a life-threatening virus.

I don’t know how students are expected to even think about these massive exams. But alas, we are. The postponement of the Leaving Certificate has basically decided that this overwhelming stress, fear and uncertainty we are feeling, we must feel for an extended two months while we wait for the exams to begin.

We have been robbed of our last ever year of secondary school. Of our graduation, last day, debs. Most importantly we have been robbed of the last three months of our education, arguably the most vital ones, in which we finish projects, revise our work from the last two years and put in all the possible preparations we can to do well in our examinations. We have been robbed of the prospect of doing incredibly well in our Leaving Certificate. We feel abandoned. We feel alone.

At an attempt to ‘ease our stress’, Minister Joe McHugh awarded 100 per cent in all orals and practicals. As someone who studies both Irish and French, I was delighted with this news. However, once I put some thought into this, I realised how completely unfair doing this was. The Leaving Cert is a competitive set of exams. You are attempting to do better than everyone in the country so you can secure your place in a university course with limited spaces. So, for example, awarding 100 per cent to every music student, they will automatically get 56 more points than me because I don’t do the subject.

This is not the only advantage gap that will be evident when the exam results eventually come out. The schools that are being provided online lessons by each of their teachers every day are automatically at an advantage as they are getting interactions from teachers very like the kind you would get in class.

However, some schools such as mine are not being provided with these lessons, creating an extremely unfair disadvantage between students who may be working just as hard but are not being provided with these resources. This will show when our results are given as most subjects are not finished the courses.

Many students are struggling in a vast amount of different ways. From lack of support for their learning disabilities, to having no access to a computer or wi-fi to keep in contact with the teachers.

Many students are struggling financially as their parents have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. I am lucky that both my parents are essential workers and my mother works in the National Ambulance Service.

However, due to the vital need for ambulance workers she works very long hours, leaving me with the responsibility of taking care of my two younger sisters.

My stepfather is currently in Lebanon serving with the army. He was meant to be home by now but because of the Covid-19 pandemic he is not allowed to return. This leaves me at an unfair disadvantage to the students whose parents can work from home. The Leaving Certificate is skewed before it even begins and it is ridiculous we are expected to compete against each other when the race is unfair to begin with.

Precautions need to be put in place to make our Leaving Certificate to be as fair as possible.

We are all so frustrated and sick of being ignored.

When questioned in the Dáil about predicted grades, and if there was a plan B, Minister Joe McHugh said: “We’re working on all contingencies,” creating more stress and uncertainty for the students.

The extreme anxiety felt surrounding the Covid-19 crisis will not suddenly disappear once we sit down in exam halls. And this is a common thought. My mother is a frontline worker. What if I bring the virus home to her after one of my exams? Or worse, what if she brings it home to me and I bring it to the exam hall?

How are we meant to follow social distancing guidelines between exams, with hundreds of students flowing out of the school at the one time. Is there an option for the students to resit if they are unable to do the exams due to Covid-19? These are just some of the questions that have caused me and many of my peers to lose sleep.

I am overwhelmed with anxiety thinking about sitting in an exam hall to complete my exams when there are so many alternative options.

The topic of predicted grades has been suggested so many times. It was suggested that students who did not like the predicted grades could sit the exams if they pleased. This would cut the number of students in the exam halls in half as I know many people would settle for their predicted grades.

I truly hope the Leaving Certificate examinations will be revised and ultimately cancelled to protect the students, both mentally and physically.