Co Kildare teen able to sit Leaving Cert after legal action is threatened against Exam bosses
Co Kildare parents are outraged that they had to take legal action so that their son will be able to sit the Leaving Cert due to begin on June 8.
Student at Castledermot Secondary School, Evan McNamara, has Aspergers, ADHD, Dyspraxia and Dyslexia yet was refused a reader, scribe or spelling and grammar waiver for the Leaving Certificate.
Evan wants to study Business & Politics at NUI Maynooth. Without someone to read him the exam questions along with the spelling and grammar waiver, he is concerned that he will not get the necessary points.
After months of urgent appeals, letters to the State Examinations Commission and an appeal to the Ombudsman, the family have finally been verbally informed that Evan will be given a scribe for the Leaving Cert. The family were informed yesterday.
Evan celebrated his graduation mass with his fellow sixth year students last night.
His mother Mags McNamara said: "As my husband says, it is a disgrace that we have had to resort to getting a solicitor so that Evan has got a basic human right. I feel so sorry for other parents in similar situations. It has caused so much anxiety for all of the family. It has been horrendous."
A spokesperson from the State Examinations Commission ( SEC), said:" The SEC is fully committed to providing an examination and assessment system with the highest standards of equity and fairness and which enables all candidates to display their achievements.
"The SEC provides a range of measures in order to facilitate candidates with particular needs under its Scheme of Reasonable Accommodations.
"These reasonable accommodations are intended to diminish, as far as possible, the impact of a physical or learning difficulty on a candidate’s performance and thus enable a candidate to demonstrate his or her level of attainment. They are not intended to compensate for lack of attainment. The SEC provides a range of measures to facilitate candidates with particular needs.
"These include the provision of readers and scribes; the production of modified papers; brailed and enlarged papers; the use of tape recorders and personal computers; and exemption or waivers."