Breaking News: Junior Certificate Results 2019 Delayed
By Fáinche Pryal and Molly Rice
This year’s Junior Certificate results will be issued on Friday the 4thof October, more than two weeks later than usual. The State Examinations Commission says the delay is due to an additional workload caused by the reconfiguration of this year’s Leaving Certificate examinations. Those changes were introduced in order to speed up procedures for Students who have appealed the results of their Leaving Certificate exams.
We as Students feel this is unacceptable! We have worked very hard over the course of three years preparing for the Junior Certificate. We have been the ‘Guinea Pigs’ for the new Junior Cycle, the SEC has been introducing over the last two years, including CBAs (Classroom Based Assessment) etc. With due dates delayed for CBAs and uncertainty among Students and Teachers about the new course syllabus. This has caused stress among Students, resulted in a waste of valuable time and is unfair to Students and Teachers who have been working diligently over the last three years.
Sinn Féin’s education spokesperson Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire has said that the delays are unacceptable. “It undermines the seriousness of state examinations and is unfair to all affected. I expect the Minister [Joe McHugh] to provide clarity on this issue as a matter of urgency.”
We respect the Leaving Certificate and we recognise that this determines the future of many Leaving Certificate Students in education. We understand the appeals process had to take priority over the Junior Certificate results but the delay of over two weeks caused is absolutely unacceptable. The Junior Certificate Students have worked hard for their exams, they deserve and should be entitled to their results at the same time as every other previous year. This has a knock on affect in classrooms around the country as Students cannot be divided into appropriate classes based on their ability.