The Department of Education has agreed to allow a group of Leaving Certificate students to re-sit their Geography exams. The exams were interrupted on Monday by a fire in the lunchroom of St Laurence's College in Loughlinstown, County Dublin. The move reverses an earlier decision to award grades based on school results, to which students and their parents had objected.
The Minister for Education, Dr Michael Woods, described the circumstances of the fire as "wholly exceptional". But the students and their parents were angry at the decision by the Department to award grades based on school-year results. Officials from the department met the school authorities yesterday evening and reached an agreement that will enable the Leaving Cert students to re-sit their exams.
Michael Woods told the Dáil that the school authorities would confirm the time and date of those exams later today. He also said that Junior Certificate candidates would receive a grade in Geography, following consultation between school authorities and the Department.
