Policy fail? Insistence that state exams go ahead is glib and ignorant

Junior Cert and Leaving Cert students mustn’t be forced to go through the motions with state exams, and we need creative thinking to find alternatives fast, writes mother and educator Ellie O’Byrne.

STRESS TEST: The Government’s determination that the Junior and Leaving Certificates will go ahead, despite the coronavirus lockdown, is blind to the inequalities that studying from home imposes on lower-income students.

The Government’s insistence that the state exams will go ahead, despite the coronavirus lockdown, is glib and ignorant. Teenagers from lower-income families are at a disadvantage in studying from home, writes Ellie O’Byrne.