Teenager misses Junior Cert exam after attack

A teenager who had perfect attendance at school missed out on a Junior Certificate paper this week after an incident with fellow students in which he was left unconscious.

The injured student was admitted to hospital in Kerry last Monday.

The matter is being investigated by gardaí.

The school authorities at Causeway Comprehensive in north Kerry said the matter had been investigated and dealt with through the school’s code of behaviour.

The student had allegedly been set upon in an incident in a GAA field located within the school grounds.

The teenager was taken by ambulance to Kerry University Hospital in Tralee.

He sustained injuries to his neck and ribs. He was released later on Monday evening, but had missed out on the CSPE exam paper that afternoon.

The student’s name is being withheld but his mother told Radio Kerry yesterday: “He is very distressed and in shock over what happened to him and very upset he missed out on his exam.”

She said: “Thankfully, his ribs were not broken.”

His mother said she has asked both the school and the Department of Education if her son, who has had perfect attendance over the past three years, might be able to sit the paper or be accommodated in some way.

She was told there was no provision to allow him sit the exam.

The woman said she wanted to highlight the anomaly whereby her son, “the victim”, was unable to sit his exam, while his aggressors could.

She said missing out on the CSPE paper could have serious consequences in the case of the Leaving Cert.

“There has to be some way around it but there isn’t,” she said.

The mother said she received a phone call on Monday from the school, shortly before 2pm, to say her son had “passed out” and an ambulance was being called.

When she got to the school, she discovered he was “after being beaten up and knocked unconscious”.

She said her son was anxious to sit the exam and was very upset.

“He is the victim of all this and the boys who did this to him are able to sit their exams,” she said.

The incident, it emerged, may be linked to an argument on Friday evening last where a friend of her son was allegedly being bullied. Her son had reminded the aggressors on that occasion it was exam time and asked them to forget about it.

“All my son did was stick up for his friend,” the mother said.

Around 250 of the 560 students at Causeway Comprehensive are sitting exams at the moment.

A statement issued through the school yesterday read: “An incident took place on Monday, June 13, at 1.45pm in Causeway GAA pitch which is on the grounds of Causeway Comprehensive School.

“The school has investigated this incident and has dealt with this matter as per the School’s Code of Behaviour. A student was unable to sit his CSPE Junior Certificate exam due to this incident.

“The Examination Commission under the Department of Education oversees the running of State Exams.”