Minister and exams commission respond after Tipperary leaving cert student had to sit exam day after her mother died

The State Examinations Commission  is reviewing exam rules for bereaved students after a young woman spoke of being forced to sit her Leaving Cert business paper the day after her mother ’s death .

Rhona Butler from Carrick-on-Suir,  said her mother died of cancer on June 13th last in the middle of her Leaving Cert exams.

The following day, she had to go into school to sit her business exam or risk repeating the Leaving Cert the following year.

“My school couldn’t have done anything for me, they would have if they could have . . . I didn’t want to make it any more abnormal than it was,” she said

After her mother was buried on Saturday, Ms Butler was back on Monday to complete her accounting exam.

https://www.tipperarylive.ie/news/home/358461/carrick-on-suir-student-whose-mother-died-during-her-leaving-cert-campaigns-for-bereaved-students-to-be-allowed-sitexams-later-in-the-summer.html

She made a plea for there to be an option for those dealing with bereavement to take their exams a few weeks later, rather than waiting a whole year more.​

“If I didn’t show up on the day, that was my problem. It wasn’t the department’s, they didn’t care,” she said.

In a statement, a spokesman for the State Examinations Commission (SEC) said it has been undertaking a review of its “reasonable accommodation” scheme for students who suffer traumatic events or illnesses at exam time.

“The SEC is very alert to the difficulties which some students encounter in their lives at examinations time,”he said.

A spokesman for Minister for Education Joe McHugh said the Minister rang Ms Butler on Thursday after listening back to her radio interview.

“Minister McHugh firmly believes that reviewing how we look after and support students who suffer a close family bereavement at exam time is an important step,” he said.

“Minister McHugh has assured Ms Butler that the issue was immediately raised with officials.”