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Leaving Cert calculated grades registration deadline extended until midday

Leaving Cert calculated grades registration deadline extended until midday

The deadline for students to apply for calculated grades in this year's Leaving Cert has been extended until midday.

Almost 60,000 had registered, but the Department of Education says it is conscious of some students being unable to sign-up.

Just 2% of sixth years have not applied for the predicted mark from teachers.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party says the Minister for Education needs to start hiring staff and building prefabs to get schools ready to open if social distancing is still in force in September.

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A roadmap for reopening schools is due to be published next month, but Joe McHugh says it is hard to see all students back at their desks if they have to keep two metres apart.

Labour senator Rebecca Moynihan says everything that can be done to get schools open again should be done.

She says immediate action is needed from the Department of Education and that there has been a lack of political leadership from the Department on the future school year.

"If you are a fifth-year student who has missed the last two months of school, you have your Leaving Cert next year, it's not acceptable to say that you are not going back into school in September," she says.

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Elsewhere, the Children's Rights Alliance says children may need to spend an extra year in school to catch up.

They want to see primary schools return in June.

Chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, Tanya Ward, says the additional year in education may be necessary.

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