Our Demands:

• Holding State Exams is a recipe for a mental and public health crisis and is inhumane - Cancel the Leaving Cert now! The stress of the Leaving Cert was exacerbated by the closure of schools in March. This left students isolated without full educational support, which is disproportionately affecting disabled, poor and working class students. Any type of assessment in such an uncertain and unpredictable period will have devastating results on young people’s mental health, and will hit the most vulnerable layers of students hardest. Students will be forced to sit exams whilst mourning the deaths of loved ones, whilst others will risk contracting Covid-19 in exam halls, threatening their physical health and that of their families. This must be avoided. France, India, the UK, the US and others have made some correct concessions to young people by cancelling their end of year exams. We say: all forms of assessment for entry into further education this year should be cancelled and all students should receive a certificate allowing them to progress to work or college.
• Fund third level institutions to ensure all students receive and access their first or second CAO choice! (If public health conditions permit the reopening of colleges) The points system only exists because of a supply and demand system based on shortages of places in third level education. Rather than fund public services so that young people can study what they want to without having to take the Leaving Cert and compete against each other, the Irish establishment choose to mollycoddle corporations, epitomised by our government’s refusal to accept the €15 plus billion Apple tax. Ireland has one of the highest rates of super rich globally, with 3,000 new millionaires in 2018 alone. Concessions, although minimal, have been made for workers affected by Covid-19. We say: the wealth and resources available in society should be used to invest in third level education, open places, reduce the size of classes, end entrance fees and permanently hire numerous amounts of precariously paid and employed postgraduates and tutors, so that young people can be given the first or second CAO of their choice this year -- without being put through the severe pressure of being tested in this unprecedented and stressful period.

What you can do:

• share this petition (and your personal experiences!) with the hashtags: #canceltheleaving #thirdlevel4all #oureducationourchoice #hearourvoices #CancelTheLC and follow us on Twitter: @CLeaving2020
• Put pressure on the government to protect young people's health and safety! Email the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (leo.varadkar@oir.ie) and Minister of Education Joe McHugh (joe.mchugh@oir.ie) with a video, photo or text pushing forward our demands (template below), or explain why you think they must cancel the Leaving Cert (make sure to CC our campaign: canceltheleaving2020@gmail.com)
• Email canceltheleaving2020@gmail.com with your own ideas and initiatives and/or if you'd like to keep updated about the campaign and other initiatives organised nationally around the LC!
• Encourage your teachers (and their unions), along with your student union (the ISSU) to support our call to cancel the Leaving Cert! Email: studentvoice@issu.ie

Email template:

Subject: Holding State Exams is a recipe for a mental and public health crisis and is inhumane - Cancel the Leaving Cert now! 

Minister McHugh / Taoiseach Leo Varadkar

My name is (...), a sixth year school student at (...). I am emailing you as part of a campaign to demand the cancellation of the Leaving Cert this year.

The stress of the Leaving Cert was exacerbated by the closure of schools in March. This left students isolated without full educational support and disproportionately affected disabled, poor and working class students. Any type of assessment in such an uncertain and unpredictable period will have devastating results on young people’s mental health, and will hit the most vulnerable layers of students hardest. Such inhumane conditions could spark an extremely severe and dangerous mental health crisis amongst young people. This must be avoided. France, India, the UK, the US and others have made some correct concessions to young people and cancelled the end of year exams. We demand that:

- Any forms of assessment for entry into further education this year should be cancelled!

- All students should receive a certificate allowing them to progress to work or college!

- Invest in third level education to open places, end entrance fees and permanently hire numerous amounts of precariously paid and employed postgraduates and tutors, so that young people can be given the first or second CAO of their choice this year -- without being put through the severe pressure of being tested in this unprecedented and stressful period!

Thanks,

Signed:
(Name)