asked the Minister for Education if it is the intention of his Department not to allow the 10 per cent. of marks in the subjects in the secondary course given to the students who answer their papers in Irish; and, if so, if he will state the reason for this change.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Markings in Intermediate Examinations.
Under the regulations hitherto in operation candidates for the intermediate and leaving certificates who used Irish instead of English in answering at the examination in subjects other than Irish, English, and drawing, were awarded bonus marks not exceeding 5 per cent. in the case of mathematics and modern Continental languages, and 10 per cent. in the case of the other subjects. It is proposed to retain this regulation, subject to the following modification, viz., that the full bonus marks be awarded to candidates obtaining 75 per cent. or less in the particular subject, and that after 75 per cent. the bonus will be subjected to a uniform reduction until the candidate who scores 100 per cent. gets no bonus. The purpose of these bonus marks is to encourage the use of Irish, and to offset any handicap which it might impose upon candidates. It is not considered desirable, however, that the bonus marks should enable a candidate to obtain more marks in a subject than the total number of marks assigned to that subject in the programme, and the purpose of the present change is to prevent this.