Vol. 501 No. 3
369 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Education and Science if persons (details supplied) will be allowed to change the examination centre for their leaving certificate in view of the fact that there is no scheduled public transport or any person in the home with transport to take them to the examination centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6064/99]
The administration of State examinations annually, catering for about 140,000 candidates in over 4,500 examination centres, is a major logistical challenge. The task would become impossible to administer if students having been registered to take the examination in one school were free to subsequently take the examinations in another school. The only reasonable position that the Department can adopt is that once entered by a particular school a student must take his-her examinations in a centre in that school. The Department can exercise some flexibility in exceptional circumstances, e.g., illness.
In relation to transport, the expectation is that the arrangements for transport to and from the school that apply at other times during the school year should also apply during the examination period.
In the case of the candidates referred to by the Deputy, my Department received a request on 2 February 1999 for a change of examination centre. From the information available to the Department the circumstances applying in this case are not exceptional and the position of the candidates concerned is similar to that of many other students.
