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Student wins case against State Examination Commission over Leaving Cert appeal

A student has won her case against the State Examination Commission to have the appeal of her Lea...
Newstalk
Newstalk

15.23 26 Sep 2018


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Student wins case against Stat...

Student wins case against State Examination Commission over Leaving Cert appeal

Newstalk
Newstalk

15.23 26 Sep 2018


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A student has won her case against the State Examination Commission to have the appeal of her Leaving Cert results decided before mid-October.

19-year-old Rebecca Carter had argued that the system was unfair as registration for her chosen course in veterinary medicine in UCD closes on September 30th.

She argued that an easily rectifiable "totting error" in her business paper meant she was awarded a lower grade than she was entitled to.

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Today, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys ruled that the SEC must consider the appeal by 4pm tomorrow and notify all parties of the result by 5pm.

Any place that Ms Carter is entitled to in UCD must be offered by Friday.

This will allow her to register with UCD before the deadline of September 30th, which the original appeal timeline of mid-October would have prevented her from doing.

Rebecca Carter outside the High Court. Image: Nicole Gernon

The judge also said that any appeal system which doesn't notify a student of the outcome until a month and a half later is manifestly unfit for purpose.

He noted that the ordeal had caused untold stress to Ms Carter and recommended that, in future, appeals should be completed by the start of the academic year.

Rebecca gave her reaction to the ruling outside court.

She said: "I'm just overwhelmed - I'm delighted for myself, and I'm relieved for myself.

"I'm also delighted for all the other students in the coming years, because they won't have to go through what I've gone through."

She added: "Luckily, from now on all the appeals will be finalised before the academic year starts."

She said the situation was especially stressful after she was forced to repeat the leaving Cert this year to get the course she wanted.

“I mean all the study and all the hours that you put and then when you see that there is a mistake and you are not to blame, it is really disheartening," she said.

She welcomed the Judge Humphreys' recommendation that similar situations should not be allowed to happen next year and warned that she does not believe the system is fit for purpose.

“I really disagree with the whole system,” she said.

“I feel it is quite hard on students and in comparison to other countries it is terribly disheartening when students view their scripts and see there is a mistake – and it is out of their control."


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