More than 2,000 students starting State exams in Offaly today

More than 2,000 students will be starting their Leaving Certificate or Junior Cycle State exams in Offay today (Wednesday).

Nationally, the number of students at both junior and senior cycle is up this year, with record numbers sitting the 2023 State examinations.

The number of students in Offaly who are due to face into their first Leaving Cert paper today is 963. This is broken down very evenly by gender, with 482 female students and 481 male students sitting the Leaving Cert in the county.

A further 88 students in Offaly (33 female and 55 male) are completing the Leaving Cert Applied programme this year.

At Junior Cycle level, the number of students in Offaly is 1,152 this year. The Junior Cycle students in the county this year are made up of 549 female and 603 male students.

Nationally, some 135,033 candidates are due to commence their Leaving Certificate, Leaving Certificate Applied and Junior Cycle examinations.

Speaking before the start of the exams, Pat Burke, Chairperson of the State Examinations Commission (SEC) said: "The State examinations are a significant milestone for candidates, their families and school authorities.

"The examinations this year have been subject to appropriate adjustments, proportionate to the educational experience of the class of 2023 over the course of the pandemic.

"On behalf of my fellow Commissioners and all of the staff of the SEC, I wish to offer sincere best wishes to all those taking the certificate examinations this year."

The SEC intends to issue the 2023 Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied examination results on Friday, August 25.