Leaving Cert students who suffer medical emergencies during exams to be allowed resit

Leaving Cert candidates who experience an “extreme medical emergency” during a paper will be allowed access to a second sitting of the exams for the first time.

The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has faced criticism from young people who experienced epileptic seizures during their exams and were unable to access resits.

This was on the basis that rules did not permit students to resit a paper once they had started it.

However, in a circular to be sent to second-level schools on Thursday, the SEC will say the ground for accessing the deferred exams will be widened to include students who “experience a serious accident, injury or illness” during their exams.

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These students will be entitled to apply to defer some or all of their papers, depending on the timing, nature and severity of their condition. They will be obliged to provide medical evidence within five working days of an incident.

Deferred Leaving Cert exams are held during July for students who experience a close family bereavement or a serious medical condition such as an accident, injury or illness.

Last summer a Leaving Cert student who suffered an epileptic seizure during her history paper was not offered a chance to resit a deferred exam.

Rachel Langan from Athenry, Co Galway, only partially completed her history paper as a result of a seizure and was worried about missing out on the points required to study her first-choice college course.

SEC rules at the time stipulated candidates who experienced a serious medical condition were entitled to sit deferred exams, but this did not apply to those who have started an exam.

Minister for Education Norma Foley is understood to have met representatives from Epilepsy Ireland recently, which has been campaigning for a change in the rules over access to the exams.

Ms Langan said she was delighted with the change in rules announced on Thursday.

“I feel relieved for all students who are worrying about this in the run-up to the exams,” she said. “It is a massive concern for students with epilepsy, especially. Exams are stressful event which can trigger these conditions. There is finally an acknowledgment that neurological conditions have a massive impact on people’s lives,” she said.

During her Leaving Cert history exam last summer, Ms Langan experienced a seizure in the middle of the written paper.

It developed into a “tonic-clonic” seizure, where a sudden burst of electricity in the brain causes the body to jerk and shake. By the time she came out of the seizure, she said she was feeling jittery and exhausted.

In the end, Ms Langan said she did not manage to finish the exam and completed just one of the two required essays.

However, she was successful in securing the points for her first choice course of history, English and archaeology at University of Galway.

The SEC said this year’s rules over access to deferred exams have been determined “with due regard to the principles of equity, fairness and integrity which govern all aspects of the examinations system”.

It added that further information will be provided in relation to any public health issues, such as Covid-19, that may arise closer to the date of commencement of the exams.

Last year, Covid-affected students were subject to a mandatory eight-day absence from the exams and allowed access to resits.

Ms Foley has said she hopes that results of this year’s exams will be released as “early as possible”.

Although exam results were issued in early September last year, education sources are hopeful results will issue earlier – possibly in late August – this year.