Waterford students call on Government to increase mental health services
Luke Comerford and Fionn McGrath, De La Salle College, who are currently sitting the leaving cert. Photo: Joe Evans
With it in mind that this is the first academic year to sit through State Exams having no previous State Examination experience, the Leaving Certificate students have only the practice of mocks and end of term exams under their belts.
This year is the first to not have had a Junior Cert exam and speaking with some students from De La Salle in Waterford City, they said that the first few exams on the Leaving Cert timetable were very-well balanced, with plenty of choices for them not to be left struggling.
The exam criteria for some subjects were adjusted to cater for the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on students' education. Most of these changes now allow for students to have more choice on their exam papers, and also a shortened selection of material that's required of them to cover throughout their two-year course.
Ed Whelan and Oisín Cooke also spoke about the healthy balance of studying and having a social life, particularly in the lead up to exams which they've never had to mentally prepare for until now.
"Balancing the social life and the study life is always hard. It's definitely come down way more on the side of the study life these past couple of months so it'll be nice to get back to the social life when this is all over," said Oisín.
Ed continued and developed more into the urgency for supports needed in Waterford, and nationally: "In terms of mental health organisations that are available to students, I think the Government needs to do more to put them in place. I think the one's that are there, not a lot of people know about them and I don't think they're funded enough," he said.
"I've found that, for my mental health throughout the Leaving Cert, for a lot of it I've had to rely on hobbies, which have been very helpful, such as scouts, music and theatre.
"But in terms of proper supports, the Government needs to be held accountable and set them up properly," Ed concluded.
Information on mental health services can be found on
