INVESTIGATION:THE STATE Examinations Commission will report to Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe shortly about the security leak that forced it to reschedule the second Leaving Cert English paper.
The Minister discussed the rescheduling of the exam with the chairman of the SEC, Dick Langford, yesterday.
The SEC has suspended the superintendent who mistakenly distributed the paper on Wednesday at St Oliver’s Community School, Drogheda, Co Louth.
Mr O’Keeffe is backing the SEC’s decision to cancel the original paper and reschedule the exam for tomorrow morning. The SEC said it was not logistically possible to distribute the back-up paper to schools yesterday morning.
It said it first learnt of the security leak at 3.55pm on Wednesday.
Last night An Post – which runs a special exam post service for the SEC – said it would not have been possible to deliver the back-up paper to schools yesterday morning. This would only have been feasible if it had been notified in mid-afternoon and if the back-up paper was printed and ready to go.
The SEC’s decision to reschedule is attracting a great deal of criticism across the education sector. Established in 2003, it has operational responsibility for the exams. It is overseen by Mr Langford and five commissioners appointed by the Minister for Education. More details of the leak became known yesterday as students who were in the exam centre spoke to reporters. The superintendent involved has not made himself available for comment.
Before opening an envelope of exam papers, a superintendent is required to ask two students to check the date and subject on the envelope and confirm the package has not been tampered with. This was not done, students claim.
In all, there were between 30 and 40 candidates in that exam centre on Wednesday morning. Exam papers were distributed to all candidates and laid face-down on the desk.
It was not until the instruction was given to turn the papers over that the error was noticed. A student notified the superintendent who looked very surprised, according to one student said. He immediately instructed students to turn the papers face-down and collected them quickly.
At that point a second supervisor returned to the room. She was supervising exams for a student with special needs who had also received the incorrect paper. She supervised the students in the exam centre while the superintendent left the room to get paper one.
The correct papers were then distributed. It had been slightly delayed by the problem and the atmosphere was giddy as students emerged.
About 150 students are sitting the Leaving Cert in St Oliver’s, split between different centres. Word quickly spread that paper two had been seen.
