Almost 4,200 local students set to sit exams

Almost 4,200 secondary school students in Westmeath and Roscommon begin their state examinations this week.

A total of 1,351 students are sitting the Leaving Cert in Westmeath, which gets underway today (Wednesday) with English Paper 1 (Higher and Ordinary) and Home Economics in the afternoon. Some 568 students in Roscommon are expected to sit the Leaving Cert.

There are 12 in Roscommon registered for Leaving Cert Applied and 37 in Westmeath.

The 1,568 Westmeath students and 649 in Roscommon registered to sit the Junior Cert also start today with English Paper 1.

Nationally, some 131,431 students are scheduled to sit state examinations this year, a record number and over 7,000 (6%) more than in 2019, the last time that the full set of state exams were held.

Pat Burke, chairperson of the State Examinations Commission welcomed the return of in-person examinations.

“The state examinations are a significant step in their educational journey for candidates, their families and schools. The adjustments made to the examinations this year have been designed to support students in their preparations. However, the support of families and the wider community for candidates sitting examinations is so important especially in light of the disruption to learning created by the pandemic.”