Leaving Cert is the newest facet of life to fall beneath the COVID-19 sword. Minister for Education Joe McHugh announced yesterday, Friday 9th of May, that the Leaving Certificate exams were no longer postponed, but canceled. Students in their Leaving Cert year this year will instead receive “calculated grades”. Social Media, Twitter especially, erupted once the news was confirmed with mixed feelings.
Some people are reaching out to this year’s Leaving Cert students.
Sitting the Leaving Cert is bad – not sitting it is even worse. Good luck to the class of 2020 https://t.co/B8ARFQXRPZ
— Patricia O'Reilly (@PatriciaDublin) May 9, 2020
Some students are celebrating, of course. We don’t blame them.
https://twitter.com/offwhitebutera/status/1258923583377756160
Others are asking the really important questions.
Will this mean there will be no leaving cert weather? #LeavingCert #LeavingCert2020
— Katie McCormack (@katiemac2292) May 8, 2020
Those that would have been in the same boat as @lovejesc are being given the option to sit the exams if they are unhappy with their predictive results.
https://twitter.com/lovejesc/status/1258923398413066241
Speaking with Pat Kenny on Newstalk Taoiseach Leo Varadkar explained:
“So much uncertainty has been created by this pandemic and we want to be able to give [students] the certainty that they will be able to start college or an apprenticeship or whatever they decide to do in October, in Autumn of this year,”
An understandable response to an unforeseen crisis.
Would you sacrifice the craic and nights out that come with the Leaving Cert ordeal? The end of the Leaving Cert night, Results night, CAO night, Graduation night, and possibly your Debs, all gone but you don’t have to do the actual Leaving Cert exams? Especially considering the mocks, practicals, and essays that come with the Leaving Cert year, that the 2020 students have already done. I’m not sure.
