Dear Ireland Students: Five things you should know about the Leaving Cert 2012
1 You are not alone – no one is enthusiastic about the Leaving Cert!
All of the great and the good in education have had a bash at the Leaving Cert. Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn says the 1930s-style exam is old fashioned. University presidents say it fosters rote learning and a “spoon-feeding” culture, leaving students ill-prepared for college. Employers complain that it’s out of kilter with modern needs.
Arrangements are under way to kill off the exam and replace it with something more modern where, we are told, there will be a greater stress on “independent self-directed learning”.
But don’t hold your breath.
Leaving Cert reform must wait in line until Junior Cert changes are bedded in in 2017. With a long lead-in time needed for exam reform, some experts reckon it could be 2022 before a “new” Leaving is in place.
2 Parents can spend a great deal of time in the pharmacy at this time of year.
You can blame that girl with the perfect Leaving Cert. Earlier this year, she told Ryan Tubridy on the Late Late Show her success was partly down to Berocca energy tablets.
Since then, pharmacies report how the parents of Ireland have been stocking up on Berocca, Pharmaton and the other supposed energy boosters. Sales are also buoyant for fish oils at this time of year. What would Peig Sayers say?
3 The exams are a nice little earner for some teachers.
It’s hard to believe it now . . . but five years ago the State exams body often struggled to recruit examiners. These days, teachers are queuing up for the work.
On average, a teacher taking on exam work can expect to earn an extra €5,000. Language teachers can earn an extra €1,000-plus from work on the oral exams in April. In all, the State exams body paid €36 million last year to teachers and other staff including examiners and superintendents. It paid a further €19 million to 6,638 examiners in 2011.
4 The Leaving Cert is a source of artistic inspiration.
Jim-Jim Nugent (not his real name) scored a big YouTube hit with I Got Me Leavin. The song – which is to the tune of I Got a Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas – has gained over 100,000 views. And it’s actually not that bad!
The exam also features in the 1998 movie How to Cheat in the Leaving Cert. The movie was much lauded by critics but labelled “irresponsible” by Willie O’Dea, who was junior education minister at the time.
5 Over the next few days someone will ask you: “Have you got anyone doing the exams this year?”
Like it or not, the State exams are part of Irish national life – and part of the national conversation.
At some stage in the next few days you will be asked if you have anyone – son or daughter, brother or sister – taking the exams.
If you say you have someone doing the Leaving Cert sympathy will be extended – and best wishes offered. If you say you have both a Leaving and a Junior Cert in the house, there will a sharp intake of breath and a novena of grace will be offered for your intentions.
The Leaving Cert? It’s part of what we are!
Ireland’s two main banks BOI & AIB
May not hit their SME business lending targets
THE COUNTRY’S two main banks, Bank of Ireland and AIB, may both struggle to hit the €3.5 billion small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending target set by Government, according to the head of the Credit Review Office, John Trethowan.
Sanctions for SME loans for the first three months of the year were broadly similar to the figures for the first quarter of 2011, when the banks each had to sanction €3 billion for the year, so it “may be a bit of a stretch” to reach this year’s targets of €3.5 billion, he said.
“They may not meet them, but it is too early in the year to say that they won’t,” he said.
Lending transactions by the banks were down 15 per cent in the first quarter on last year.
Mr Trethowan was disappointed there was not more evidence of “enterprise risk-taking” by the banks.
They could take on more risk with “the more difficult cases”, he said, and needed to ask whether they were going to get money back on a certain case and, if they were, then they needed to approve the loan.
“I am not asking banks to chuck their policies out the window, but certainly to be more flexible,” he said.
“There needs to be some level of discretion around that to let bankers who can see a viable deal – which may be outside policy – to let them to make the loans.”
Banks drove “a coach and horses” through their lending policies during the boom to the point where there were so many exceptions that there were no policies.
“I am not suggesting that we get back to that madness, but there is room for banks to be making policy exceptions for viable businesses,” Mr Trethowan said.
The Credit Review Office, which hears appeals from SMEs which have been refused credit, overturned 69 credit refusals out of 197 appeals, leading to €6.9 million of credit being made available to SMEs and 683 jobs being supported. The office has upheld the banks’ decision in 48 cases.
The office said it overturned 17 bank refusals in the last quarter, which led to Bank of Ireland and AIB providing €2 million of credit, supporting 140 jobs in SMEs.
Only Bank of Ireland, AIB and Ulster Bank were lending to SMEs. Other banks were “not actively” making new loans to SMEs, which would be “an issue”.
A new entrant in Irish banking providing loans to SMEs would be a welcome development, he said.
Customers at the former Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and Anglo Irish Bank will have an issue with rebanking with other lenders and dealing with the costs of transferring securities to other banks as the economy recovers, he said.
He expressed concern that the banks may lose staff with skills, experience and relationships with SME customers under their plans to make staff redundant.
AIB’s head of business banking John Webb said the bank was committed to reaching the 2012 target of €3.5 billion in new SME loans.
“We have taken action to free up front-line staff so they can engage more with our customers. We know we have more to do in this area,” he said.
Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath TD said Mr Trethowan’s comments that the banks could be taking on more risk was “further evidence of the inadequate performance by the banks”.
“The reality on the ground is that viable businesses are still struggling to get access to credit with reasonable terms and conditions, and this credit squeeze is continuing to choke the economic recovery,” he said.
Ireland’s domestic manufacturing productivity up by 1.2% on previous quarter
MANUFACTURING activity rose by 1.2 per cent between March and April, according to data published by the Central Statistics Office yesterday.
The seasonally adjusted volume of industrial production for manufacturing industries for the three-month period between February and April was also 1.2 per cent higher than the previous quarter.
Figures on numbers employed in industry show that a significant increase was registered in the final quarter of last year. Employment in industry topped 200,000 in the final three months, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 6,000.
A breakdown of the production data shows that the “modern” sector, comprising a number of high-technology and pharmaceutical industries, registered a monthly increase in production of 2 per cent, while there was an increase of 2.5 per cent in the “traditional” sector.
Neither sector as yet appears to have been affected by the slowdown in the European economy, in evidence since late last year. Most of the output of both sectors is for export to foreign markets.
Meanwhile, more timely European purchasing manager index (PMI) figures published yesterday showed a more negative trend across the continent. Euro zone services and manufacturing output contracted in May for a fourth month, adding to signs the economy is suffering under the worsening sovereign-debt crisis.
A composite index based on a survey of purchasing managers in both industries dropped to 46 from 46.7 in April, London-based Markit Economics said yesterday.
While above an initial estimate of 45.9, the May reading is the lowest since June 2009. The indicator has remained below 50 – indicating contraction – for four months. European companies are cutting back on hiring and spending as the intensifying fiscal crisis makes the economic outlook more uncertain.
While the 17-nation euro zone narrowly avoided falling into a recession in the first quarter, unemployment has reached the highest on record and economic confidence is at the lowest since 2009.
“The PMIs indeed point to a contraction in the second quarter,” said Frederik Ducrozet, a senior euro zone economist at Credit Agricole in Paris.
“The most important development is not so much the expected weakness in the periphery but rather the recent worrying trend seen in France and, to a lesser extent, in Germany, where domestic demand could remain constrained for a longer period than initially expected.”
The euro extended declines against the dollar on the data, down 0.6 per cent on the day and near a two-year low.
European funds investors are growing more concerned about the debt crisis after inconclusive Greek elections raised the prospect of a break-up of the single currency and as Spain struggles to recapitalise its banking system.
G7 finance ministers and central bank governors will today discuss the debt crisis.
Oil prices down by 15% pushes Ireland’s energy index down by 7% for May
Energy prices – as tracked by the Bord Gáis energy index – fell by 7% in May from April largely due to a 15% drop in oil prices over the period.
That was the biggest monthly fall in crude prices in two years.
But the fall in oil prices has coincided with a fall in the value of the euro compared to the US dollar.
That means Irish consumers, in common with our euro zone peers, are not seeing the full advantage of falling oil prices.
Crude oil is priced in dollars so the stronger dollar is offsetting some of the benefits of weaker oil price.
Crude oil is priced in dollars so the stronger dollar is offsetting some of the benefits of weaker oil price.
The Bord Gáis Energy Index fell to 142 points in May. This makes it 1% higher than the same time last year. Bord Gáis has said that if the euro had not weakened against the dollar and sterling, it index would have fallen another 4% month on month to 11%.
During the month the oil element of the index fell by 9% month on month to 151. The price of a barrel of oil fell in May by almost $18 due to the political uncertainty in Europe, global economic weakness, increased oil supplies from OPEC and easing concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The natural gas element of the index was down 3% month on month to 203. Prices started to fall in the middle of the month as healthy supplies of gas were sent from the LNG terminals and Norwegian gas flows resumed after scheduled maintenance.
But the coal element of the index rose by 4% to 122 with the fuel finding some support from the power generation sector as healthy European dark power spreads means that it is economical to burn coal across Europe to produce cheaper electricity.
The electricity element of the Bord Gáis index fell by 5% to 116. As most of the power produced in Ireland is generated from gas, a 3% fall in the average monthly wholesale UK gas price in euro terms put downward pressure on the cost to produce electricity here.
John Heffernan, power trader at Bord Gáis Energy said that fuel commodity prices dropped last month as the markets nervously assessed the uncertain global economic and political repercussions of the current crisis in the European Union.
”As a consequence, money managers channelled funds away from commodities in favour of safe have assets such as Us and German government bonds,” he added.
‘A Green economy can lead to’ sustainable equitable growth
About 500 students and parents participated in the celebrations of World Environment Day at Regional Science City in association with Centre for Environmental Education (CEE) on Tuesday. Dignitaries who spoke to the students on this occasion includedAtul Jindal, project director, forest department, UP and Preeti Kanaujia, coordinator, Centre for Environmental Education.
Atul Jindal, who was the chief guest of the function while interacting with the students said that the theme for the World Environment day-2012 is “Green Economy: Does it include you?”. He informed that the UN Environment Programme defines Green Economy as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities.
He said that people should actively indulge in bringing about sustainable and equitable development and should promote green economy.
Preeti Kanaujia said that protection of the environment can help in improving economic development because it nurtures our natural capital like forests, water, soil and food-stocks. “We all should utilise this day to make a new start towards protection of the environment,” she said. Various programmes organised for the students can prove very helpful in emanating concern for the environment in their minds. Reckless use of natural resources can lead to disastrous consequences in future and it is very essential to create awareness about environment in the children’s mind,” she pointed out.
On this occasion, a series of environment related educational programmes like creative art and craft corner based on clay modelling and hand/ face painting, hands on corner based on pottery, card making contest, quiz contest, treasure hunt games, puppet show related to environment were organised for the children.
In the treasure hunt contest, Ankur Dixit, Pushkar Ahuja and Anjali Vishwakarma were given first, second and third prize respectively in the senior category while Ananya Gupta, Ankit Agrawal and Apara Agrawal received first, second and third prize respectively in the junior category. Several students were awarded prizes in written science quiz, poster making contest, collage making contest and bird identification games.
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