2,000 more people take exams than last year

Almost 2,000 students more than last year are getting their Junior Certificate results at schools and other education centres today.

The 58,798 people whose wait for their grades is coming to an end is 3.4% more than last year, and includes 1,000 who came through back-to-education schemes. The 57,798 school-based candidates is 2,027 higher than in 2011.

It is the highest number of Junior Cert students since 2004 and rising enrolments suggest the 60,000-plus who sat it in 2001 and 2002 will be repeated within two years.

As the results from the State Examinations Commission await distribution by principals at 730 schools, colleges, and prisons, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn sent his good wishes to the recipients awaiting grades in some of the 26 subjects examined.

“The wait between June and now has no doubt been long for you and your families, but I hope that the results today reflect the hard work you have put into your studies,” he said.

Under the overhaul he has approved of the three-year cycle leading to the Junior Cert, students will be limited to taking exams in a maximum of eight subjects from 2017.

Just over 1,900 students will find out today that they got at least seven higher-level A grades. Of these, almost 1,300 have an A in eight higher-level subjects, slightly less than last year despite a 3% increase in overall numbers taking the exams.

For 19 students, the results sheet they get will show 12 As in higher-level subjects and 108 have one fewer.

Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland president Gerry Breslin said it was a day for students, parents, and teachers to celebrate, but added that four years of cutbacks were having a negative impact.

“Junior cycle classes, which were always overcrowded in core subjects, have got larger and more higher, ordinary, and foundation-level classes have been amalgamated.”

Anybody not satisfied with a grade in any subject can appeal through their school for €32, refundable if a result is upgraded.

The Irish Second-level Students’ Union wished those receiving their results the best of luck and appealed for them to be responsible and mindful to others in their celebrations.

Its president Dylan Grace said: “While many people are currently discussing the new junior cycle syllabus, it is important that we all take a moment to congratulate all students, of what will soon be the ‘old’ Junior Cert, on their three years of hard work and effort which has hopefully been rewarded with today’s results.”

As those getting results consider which subjects to take for the Leaving Certificate, if they have not already done so, Teachers’ Union of Ireland president Gerard Craughwell said they should gravitate toward areas that stimulated and engaged them.

“It has never been more vital that all students seek to at least attain a Leaving Certificate, as in the current climate they have little or no chance of entering the workforce without one.”