Last week I indicated that I proposed to make a detailed statement to the House about the disclosure of information of questions on certain papers set in connection with the Secondary School Certificate Examinations. With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I would like to make that statement now.
The Secondary School Certificate Examinations which involve separate Pass and Honours papers, in subjects other than arithmetic, in the case of the Leaving Certificate and combined Pass and Honours papers in the case of the Intermediate Certificate, began this year on the morning of Tuesday, 4th June, and continued up to Saturday, the 15th June. The examinations were held in 515 centres throughout the country, the number of centres in Dublin City and County being 118. At each centre, with few exceptions, both Leaving Certificate and Intermediate Certificate candidates sat together. The number of candidates who sat at these 515 centres was, approximately, 21,000, consisting of about 7,000 Leaving Certificate candidates and 14,000 Intermediate Certificate candidates.
It is not yet possible to state how many Leaving Certificate candidates elected to answer the Honours paper and how many took the Pass paper in any particular subject. That information will not be available until the answer books have been segregated. It can be assumed, however, that the proportions will not be very much different from those of former years. In 1955, for example, in each of the Leaving Certificate subjects, to which I shall have occasion to refer more specifically later, the percentage number of candidates who answered in the subject and who opted for the Honours paper, was, approximately, as follows:—
|
Boys |
Girls |
|
|
English |
67% |
79% |
|
Geography |
78% |
86% |
|
Commerce |
70% |
70% |
|
Mathematics |
25% |
1% |
Having described that background, I will now deal with the event about which there has already been heard and read much that I fear was not in accordance with facts.
In the course of the first day of the examination, that is, on Tuesday, the 4th June, the Department received information from a member of a teaching Order, a lady Secondary teacher and a parent, from different parts of Dublin, to the effect that there was evidence that questions from the Arithmetic paper for the Leaving Certificate which was worked by candidates between 10 a.m. and 12 noon on that day, were known to some candidates beforehand. Inspectors of the Department immediately made preliminary inquiries into the matter and these inquiries showed that more intensive investigations were called for, since the Department would require to be fully satisfied, before deciding on the action to be taken:
(i)that there was in fact a leakage in relation to the Arithmetic paper in question;
(ii)whether there were other subjects involved besides Arithmetic;
(iii)how widespread was the disclosure of the question papers; and
(iv)what was the source of the leakage.
The assistance of the Detective Branch of An Garda Síochána was accordingly sought and by 4.30 p.m. on the afternoon of the first day of the examinations, the Gardaí had commenced their investigations.
These investigations continued throughout the following day and by the afternoon of that day it was clear that the disclosure was limited in scope both in relation to the papers and the areas involved. As, however, the inquiries were still proceeding, I did not consider it prudent to issue any statement until the source of the leakage had been discovered and the extent to which the information had been disclosed had been fully confirmed. The Department, in the meantime, had been taking all practical steps to rectify the matter; and on the afternoon of Wednesday, the 5th June, a substitute paper in Geography, Leaving Certificate Pass, was prepared for issue to all centres where it was felt there might have been any possibility of any of the candidates having prior knowledge of the original paper.
On Thursday, 6th June, while the investigations had not yet been completed, definite information in relation to the papers involved, including copies of the questions in each case, had been obtained. This information confirmed that questions on the English Leaving Certificate Pass paper, the examination in which was to be held on the following morning, were known to some candidates in advance. Steps were taken in regard to this paper as in the case of Geography.
On the night of Thursday, 6th June, the person responsible for the leakage made a statement in which he admitted that, in the course of his employment as a copy holder with the firm where the papers were printed, he had memorised according as he handled the particular papers, some of the questions in the Leaving Certificate Arithmetic paper and in the Leaving Certificate Pass papers in English, Geography, Geometry, Algebra and Commerce. He had later written down the questions he had memorised and had transmitted them at intervals to a boy who was sitting for the Leaving Certificate Examination. This boy in turn had already admitted having communicated the questions to three other boys. The information contained in the statement in relation to the papers involved corresponded in detail with the information in that respect already in the hands of the Department and the Gardaí from other parties. It was not until then that I felt free to issue the statement which was broadcast from Radio Éireann at 1.30 p.m. on Friday, June 7th.
Following on this, substitute papers were set in Algebra and Commerce. The examination in Arithmetic and Geometry having been held before the disclosure of information in relation to them had been confirmed, it was not possible to provide substitute papers within the examination time-table and the only alternative was to arrange for re-examination in these branches of Mathematics of all candidates at centres where it was considered there might have been any possibility of any of the questions on the original papers being known and studied beforehand. That repeat examination was held on Monday, 17th June.
I might mention, at this stage, that it is not to be inferred from the fact that substitute papers were provided in any particular centre that candidates from that centre had prior knowledge of the questions on the original papers in any of the subjects I have named. The fact is that, in this matter, the Department had to cast its net widely.
The firm which at present does the printing of examination papers has held the contract for that work for close on 30 years. This is the first time in that period that a leakage of information occurred which upset the Department's examination arrangements. On one occasion before, there was an attempt made by an employee of the firm to disclose information about certain papers in a somewhat similar way, but that attempt was discovered in ample time, before the examinations, to have new papers printed. When the factor of human frailty is borne in mind and regard is had to the temptation which the possession of confidential information presents to the mind of young employees, I would suggest that the record of the printing firm concerned and its employees is a creditable one. While saying that, I do not wish to detract in any way from the seriousness of such a leakage occurring even once.
The employee concerned on this occasion has already lost his employment, which is in itself severe punishment for his lapse. The management of the firm have expressed their deep regret that, even unwittingly, they should have been the cause of this upset to the Department, to candidates, to parents and to schools.
The arrangements for the better preservation of the confidential nature of examination papers is being examined by my Department and by other Departments concerned. In that regard, however, I may be permitted to observe that whilst all possible physical steps may be taken in the matter of grilles, seals, etc., it is not possible in the ultimate to seal the human mind, so that it is impossible to say with certainty that any steps will achieve absolute security.
Again, whilst not wishing to mitigate in any way the seriousness of what happened, I would like to point out that in fact it was fortunate that the leakage was confined to Leaving Certificate Pass papers inasmuch as pass candidates do not, to any extent, enter into the competitive side of the Leaving Certificate Examination. The steps which have already been taken and those which will be taken in connection with the marking of answer books, will, I am satisfied, ensure that no inequity will result from the leakage. In this regard I can assure the House that my Department will continue to watch the position with a conscientious eye in the interests of justice.
Arising out of criticisms and reports which appeared in the public Press during the examination period, there are a few points in particular to which I would like briefly to refer. The Department was being daily presented with what purported to be advance knowledge of the examination papers for the Intermediate Certificate and Leaving Certificate Honours, and statements that there had also been leakages in relation to these papers. Criticism was levelled at the Department because of its refusal to offer comment when in fact comment was out of the question as any contradiction would have the effect of disclosing indirectly information in relation to the actual papers. I have already denied that there was any leakage of the contents of the examination papers for these two certificate groups. I wish now to confirm that denial.
I should like to point out, however, that the Department is aware that every year teachers and candidates for these examinations engage in intelligent guessing as to likely questions on the examination papers. Having regard to the well-defined nature of the certificate courses and to the fact that, in languages, named texts are prescribed for study, it is only natural that, when a large number of alternative "tips" are being circulated, some may hit the mark. Normally, little credence is attached to such "tips" but in the circumstances of this year, they were, I am afraid, regarded by some as indicating a leakage of information. There was also the fact that privately prepared specimen papers, which in previous years were accepted for what they are, were this year apparently taken by some to represent copies of the actual examination papers.
It was suggested that the examinations should have been suspended from once it was known that there was any leakage. The facts as they disclosed themselves, and as I have already described them, did not warrant such a step. Indeed they showed that such suspension, involving, at it would, the penalisation of all candidates in both Intermediate and Leaving Certificate examinations, would be entirely unjustified.
As I am referring to the question of the suspension of the examinations, it might not be out of place for me to mention that had it been found necessary to hold new examinations, there would have arisen a number of practical difficulties, which all concerned may be thankful to have escaped. Some of these are that the Department's examinations are followed immediately by the Matriculation examination and that a number of pupils are candidates at both; that the Leaving Certificate results could not be available in adequate time for entrance to universities, ecclesiastical colleges, training colleges, professional courses and various posts; and that the upset to family and school arrangements and the mental burden imposed on candidates would have been very great.
The task of tracing the disclosure of information, through a number of hands back to the source, involved continuous and careful inquiry over a period of three days. I wish to thank the Gardaí who carried out the investigations in this field for the expedition and efficiency with which they fulfilled their task and the discretion which they showed in doing so.
I would like, also, to express my appreciation of the co-operation extended to the Department and the Gardaí by parents, schools and others in the course of these inquiries; and, finally, I desire to record my personal appreciation of the enthusiastic and efficient manner in which the Department's staff, without regard for their personal convenience or interests, undertook extra duties before and after office hours to ensure that substitute examination papers were provided and distributed to the examination centres.
