Parents irked by repeat students fees

PARENTS have called on the Government to reverse a policy that means repeat Leaving Certificate students pay more than twice the fee charged to first-time candidates.

The fee for sitting the exam this year is €86, but those doing it for the second time must pay €225.

The Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate exams are operated by the independent State Examinations Commission since last year, but the fees must be approved by Education Minister Noel Dempsey.

The National Congress of Catholic Secondary School Parent Associations (CSPA) is opposed to all fees for the exams, but said there was no reasonable explanation for charging some students more than others.

"Most repeat students are going to the same school; they have the same teachers and they sit the same papers as everybody else. So there is no reason why they should have to pay more; they are not getting anything extra," said CSPA spokesperson Barbara Johnston.

"The reason they have to repeat in the first place is because the Department of Education has such as woeful system for assessing candidates for third level places," she said.

Ms Johnston said parents should not have to pay for State exams in the first place because their taxes are supposed to support the State.

A spokesperson for the commission said the increased fees for repeat candidates were introduced in 1987 because those students have already benefited from a normal course of post-primary education.

"The idea is that if you wish to take an extra year, you make a contribution towards the cost of providing the necessary resources," she said.

Although the final approval for fees is a matter for Mr Dempsey, a spokesperson for his department said no comment was being made on the issue.

The cost of running the Junior and Leaving Certificate last year was €49m, of which e7m was recouped in exam fees. Of the 59,525 students who sat the Leaving Certificate, just under 14,000 were exempted from fees because they or their parents were medical card holders.

The numbers applying to do the exam in June are slightly down on this time last year. The commission has had applications from 57,657 people 53,640 school students and 4,017 external candidates compared to almost 59,000 in mid-February 2003.