THE STATE Examinations Commission is trying to make alternative arrangements for more than 60 students due to sit the Leaving Certificate at a school in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, which has offered the Irish syllabus and exam system since the mid-1990s.
The International School of the Martyrs is the only school outside Ireland to offer the exam. Its student body includes the children of high-ranking Libyan regime officials, diplomats and other expatriates. It is understood relatives of Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy, including his grandchildren, have attended the school.
The commission arranges for an examination superintendent to travel to Tripoli each year to supervise the exams. There are 66 candidates entered for this year’s Leaving Cert. “In light of the extreme situation that persists in Libya the SEC does not foresee that it will be possible to facilitate the sitting of the [exam] there this year,” the commission said.
Some of those due to sit the exam are Europeans and the remainder are Libyans. Candidates with dual citizenship have returned to their own countries but others, mainly Libyan nationals, have stayed in Libya.
The commission said it had been contacted by teachers from the school as well as students and their parents regarding possible alternative arrangements. One of the options suggested was holding the exams in Tunisia. The Department of Foreign Affairs advises that the situation there remains unstable.
The commission said it was mindful of a number of concerns such as the health and safety of its staff who would travel to the region in advance; the exam superintendents who would then invigilate; and the pupils sitting the exams, as well as the integrity and security of the examination system, with a particular focus on the question papers.
The commission has proposed that students who can travel to Ireland should do so, and arrangements will be made for them in examination centres here.
“For those students who cannot travel to Ireland we are exploring the possibility of arranging an alternative examination sitting, perhaps in Malta,” the commission said. “At the moment we are awaiting a response from the school on our proposals.”
The co-educational school in Tripoli caters for more than 500 students. It was established in the late 1950s to provide an education to expatriate children whose parents worked in the oil sector and the diplomatic community. In 1995, the school’s then principal, Brendan Coffey, from Waterford, introduced the Leaving Certificate as a more suitable alternative to the International Baccalaureate.