Schoolboys get cut from exams over hair

THREE schoolboys who were not allowed to sit their Junior Certificate at a Co Offaly school due to their haircut were last night allowed back to sit their exams.

Edward McEvoy, the principal of Tullamore College, said the boys would be accommodated at a special exam centre at their school from Monday.

Mr McEvoy said the boys tight haircuts had breached the school’s code of conduct.

“We are talking about coming across in the right way, in the right spin, for example in applying for a job, for an interview.

“So it is not just where students can just come in whatever way they like to sit an exam — the normal standards of school apply and our standards are high,” he said.

After being informed their haircuts breached rules the three teenagers were given the option of sitting yesterday’s exam in a centre at a school in Clara, which is 12km from the secondary school in Tullamore.

Two travelled to sit the exam, but 15-year-old Enda Carroll claimed he should be allowed to sit them at Tullamore College. He did not sit any exams yesterday and will now have to re-sit the Junior Cert next summer.

Pamela Carroll, the mother of Enda, said he was left too upset to sit yesterday’s exams after he was told he would have to travel elsewhere.

She said: “I want Enda to do his Junior Cert. Because he is a good kid and he deserves the best, if he was out roaming the streets and taking drugs and one thing and another yes I would understand, but over a haircut.”

The State Examinations Commission has said it was satisfied arrangements were made available for the students to sit the exams and described it as a local issue.

The mother said: “If he was in jail he would be allowed sit his exams.”