The Coronavirus pandemic is affecting almost every aspect of our lives at the moment.
Bar those working in essential services, the rest of the population is off work and instructed to stay in their homes for the majority of the time until Tuesday May 5 at the earliest.
While around 120,000 Irish Leaving and Junior Cert students have seen their lives turned upside down in the last month.
Those set to sit the Leaving Cert, about 55,000 of them, have been particularly inconvenienced as the one set of exams they have spent the past five or six years preparing for are now in jeopardy.
They have been out of the school setting since March 13 after they were closed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. And on Friday April 10, it was announced that the schools would remain closed ‘until further notice’.
On March 19, the Department of Education announced that Leaving Cert and Junior Cert orals and practical exams were cancelled and all students would be awarded full marks.
While on April 10, it was confirmed the Leaving Cert exams set to take place in June have been postponed. They are now rescheduled for late July or early August – while the Junior Cert is off altogether.
The deadline for submission of Leaving Certificate practical and other projects, in subjects such has History, Geography, Art, PE and Construction, has also been rescheduled to either late July or early August.
All the time, students have been taken out of the routine that they have been used to for the past five or six years just moths before the all important exams.
So, we decided to reach out to the schools in Laois and ask those getting ready to sit Leaving and Junior Cert exams how they are getting on.
What their routine now is, how their school are trying to help them and whether they believe the exams should be postponed or done online if they cannot proceed on the scheduled date.
So far we have heard from Portlaoise CBS’ Eamonn Delaney, Scoil Chriost Ri’s Kate Corrigan, Mountrath CS’ Seth Burns Mooney, Colaiste Iosagain’s Emma Dunne, St Fergal’s Niall Coss, Portlaoise College’s Lauren Mills, Heywood’s Dervla McDonagh, Knockbeg’s Ross Bolger, Clonaslee College’s Eva Hyland, Portlaoise CBS’ Thómas Dunne, Scoil Chriost Ri’s Grace O’Brien, Mountrath CS’ Ellen Timmons, Portlaoise College’s Igot Stankiewicz, Knockbeg’s Conor Donlon, Heywood’s Lauren O’Reilly-Phelan, St Fergal’s Robert Phelan and Scoil Chriost Ri’s Julia Cahill.
Next up, it is Stradbally native and Portlaoise CBS student Darragh Carolan.
1 – What is your daily routine at the moment?
I don’t really have a set routine to my day. Every day I spend different hour slots scattered throughout the day. In between these hour slots I like to relax.
2- What supports have your school provided for you and have they been useful?
Our school has given us various resources but the main resource they use would be Microsoft Teams.
In fairness this app is good for communicating between teacher and student and providing work for the us to do with given deadlines. However it’s hard to keep up to date with some of these deadlines.
3 – Are you getting out for much exercise?
Yes, I enjoyed going to the football pitch for a kick around but as the pitches are closed now I go for a run or a cycle to keep active.
4 – How do you feel about the decision to scrap the oral/practical elements of some subjects and give everyone 100% across the board?
Personally I was delighted at first but it’s not much of an advantage when every student in Ireland is starting off at the same grade going into the written exam.
5 – Do you find it hard to motivate yourself to study for the exams as now the date has been pushed out to late July or early August?
I find it extremely difficult to find motivation to study as late July or early August feels so far away.
I suppose the only benefit of the exams being postponed is that we get more time in the classroom to finish off the curriculum in certain subjects.
6 – Are you able to interact with your friends? And if so, how are you doing this?
With social media these days it’s very simple to communicate with friends via Snapchat or Group FaceTime calls – so that is what I use.
7 – How do feel young people are being portrayed in the media at the moment? They are being blamed a lot for ignoring social distancing guidelines. Do you believe this is a fair criticism?
At first younger people weren’t obeying the social distancing guidelines but recently I believe that younger people realising the seriousness of the situation and obeying the guidelines.
8 – If the Coronavirus crisis continues and you can’t sit your exams in late July or early August, do you think they should be postponed further or be cancelled altogether?
If we can not sit our exams in late July or early August I would personally prefer to just predict grades.
This would finish the school year and relieve students of a mountain of stress.
SEE ALSO – Feargus Dunne: ‘It’s true what they say. Those small moments are the big moments.’
