asked the Minister for Education if he will state (a) if it is a fact that the marks in Greek (Intermediate Certificate) were revised immediately before the list of scholarship winners was issued to the schools; that there was an all-round increase of 10 per cent. in the marks which the advising examiners had awarded; and that this increase was added without any re-examination of the papers; (b) whether the original marks awarded by the examiners were approved of by the Ministry before being issued to the schools; and, if so, for what reasons were the marks increased; (c) whether this increased mark in Greek had the effect of giving scholarships to certain boys who otherwise would not have got them, and of depriving an equal number of boys of scholarships to which they were entitled before the revision; similarly, that a certain number of boys have now been awarded first class scholarships instead of second class to which they were entitled according to the original marks, whilst an equal number have fallen from first to second class scholarships, although they were entitled to first class scholarships before the revision; (d) whether the Minister will give the names (with their schools) of these boys who have won scholarships (or secured first class scholarships instead of second class) owing to the revision, and a similar list of boys who have been deprived of scholarships (or dropped from first class to second class) as a result; (c) whether the Minister is prepared to compensate these boys who have lost scholarships or dropped from first class to second class scholarships owing to the revision.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Award of Scholarships.
The provisional lists of marks in the case of the Intermediate Certificate (Boys) were tabulated as they were received from the assistant examiners, and were forwarded to the schools on 29th August last. These lists were issued for the convenience of the managers in the formation of their classes on the reopening of their schools, and the managers were advised at the time of their provisional nature. They could not be finally accepted until the Department had had an opportunity of being satisfied that a just and uniform standard of marking had been maintained in each particular subject.
In the case of Greek, an examination of the provisional results revealed that the percentage of passes had fallen to 52.9, as compared with an average percentage of 78.3 over the preceding 16 years. On a re-examination of the candidates' answer books, it was found that the standard of marking, while uniform, had been too severe, and, with the approval of the advising examiner, it was decided to increase each candidate's marks by 10 per cent. This action was considered necessary in order to remove the injustice which the acceptance of the original marking would have imposed on the candidates in question.
The preparation of the scholarship lists was not completed until the results in the various subjects, including Greek, had been finally decided. I am not in a position to say what candidates would have been included in the lists if they had been prepared on the basis of the provisional results as issued in August last, and I do not feel that any useful purpose would be served by preparing lists on that basis in view of the incorrect standard adopted in the marking of Greek in the first instance.
Were all the answer books re-examined?
No.
Therefore, if one candidate gets an increase of 10 per cent. it may be quite justified, but in the case of a candidate who may have attempted difficult questions an increase of 10 per cent. may not be justified. Is it not a very happy-go-lucky method of correcting what was, according to the Minister, an injustice? Some people may have deserved an increase of 10 per cent. if there was a hard standard, while others might not, but they all got it. Is not that an injustice?
The examiner went through the papers and took out, over a period of a fortnight, a considerable number, representing what he considered to be a fair selection of all the papers. It was as a result of the recommendation of the examiner that the figure of 10 per cent. was fixed.
You assumed, then, not merely that there was too hard a standard on the paper as a whole, which I could understand, but that there was too difficult a standard on every question, and at the same rate. It was only on that assumption that you could be justified in adopting a rule of thumb of 10 per cent.
I assume that that is so, but I should like to have notice of the question.
Would the Minister say if the examiner in question is an official of the Department?
Yes.