Maths and science subjects should be given additional points in the Leaving Cert as part of a wider effort to revive student interest in these key areas, according to senior academics.
In a significant initiative, the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), which works to foster research and scholarship, says the crisis in maths and science requires urgent attention.
Maths and science subjects require "extra effort" from students and therefore should get bonus points, they say
The RIA move comes amid mounting concern about the decline in numbers taking higher level maths and low standards at ordinary level.
Only 11,000 will sit this year's final Leaving Cert higher level maths paper today, less than 20 per cent of students.
High failure rates have also been a recurring feature of results at ordinary level in recent years.
The academy says an A1 in Leaving Cert maths deserves the 40 point premium, abolished over 20 years ago.
At present, only the University of Limerick and the Dublin Institute of Technology currently give bonus points for honours Leaving Cert maths.
"We need to incentivise students to take honours mathematics, not penalise them," according to Dr Mike Hopkins, chairman of the academy's Physical Sciences Committee.
"It is unfair not to give bonus points and unreasonable to expect students to choose maths, physics and chemistry over subjects that require less effort. In short the CAO points system should grant extra points for extra effort."
The academy also says that the future of the IT industry in Ireland is threatened by the low standard of mathematics among school-leavers.
A high failure rate in Leaving Cert maths is "rendering one-sixth of school leavers ineligible for many science, engineering and technology courses in higher education", it noted.
Dr Hopkins said last night: "If the Government is serious about developing Ireland as a knowledge society it must give incentives to encourage the highest standards in mathematics."
Yesterday Frank Turpin, Intel's education manager, supported the academy's call.
"Achievement in higher level maths and physics at Leaving Cert is vitally important to Intel's long-term success in Ireland as this is the essential stepping stone for students who will pursue the disciplines from which Intel hires most of its workforce."
The RIA's Committee for the Physical Sciences is calling for a review of the decision made over 20 years ago to phase out bonus points for mathematics and is also calling for extra CAO points to be awarded for physics and chemistry.
