The State Examinations Commission (SEC) is reviewing the circumstances that led to a delay in issuing Leaving Cert exam papers that students sat this morning and has apologised to schools and candidates affected.
19,000 candidates in 494 second level schools were entered to sit the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) Links Modules examination this morning between 10am and 12.30pm.
However 19 schools were obliged to print up a digital version of the paper and to digitally access a related audio-visual file because the material from the State Examinations Commission did not arrive in time.
The SEC said it was aware of a small number of schools that had to delay the start time of the examination to give them time to print the examination papers or to facilitate the arrival time of the post.
Examination papers and DVDs were due to have been delivered to schools yesterday, but the SEC said that "due to a delay in the posting of these papers by the SEC, the papers were not transferred to An Post until Tuesday 30 April and so could not have been with schools any earlier than this morning".
It said it notified all schools yesterday about the delay and asked for their cooperation in opening early this morning to facilitate taking delivery of the papers from An Post.
An Post prioritised the delivery of the examination papers and DVDs and bespoke arrangements were made for 30 schools in more inaccessible locations, the SEC said.
Schools that had not received their papers by 9.15am were asked to contact the SEC.
The body said that while the majority of schools received their papers in time for the commencement of the examination, not all did.
The SEC said that ultimately it provided 19 schools with the digital version of the paper for printing locally as well as digital access to the audio-visual file - nine of the schools were in Dublin, eight were in the rest of Leinster and one school was in Munster.
"We are aware that in a small number of schools the start time of the examination had to be delayed to facilitate either the arrival time of the post or the time needed to print the examination papers", the SEC said, adding that "in all cases candidates were allowed the full two hours 30 minutes duration to complete their examination".
The State Examinations Commission has apologised to school authorities for the delay in the delivery of the examination papers and said it wanted to express its "appreciation to schools for their cooperation in ensuring the conduct of the examination this morning".
"The SEC wishes to also offer its apology to any candidate affected by a delayed start time", it said.
The Links Module course prepares LCVP students for the world of work, teaching teens job seeking skills as well as training them in communication, teamwork and computing techniques.