In-person exams will go ahead as scheduled, College has said, amid growing calls for all physical sittings to be scrapped due to the coronavirus.
In an email statement to The University Times, Media Relations Officer Catherine O’Mahony said that “we continue to plan to hold some examinations in-person”.
“It is important to note that as an educational institution, Trinity is exempt from the capacity rules that affect indoor entertainment, cultural, community and sporting events”, she said.
“We have moved more exams online than we originally planned and we are very mindful of social distancing needs as we plan for exam sessions that are as safe as possible.”
Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said his department will not advise Colleges on in-person exams, leaving the decision up to each institution.
Students in NUI Galway have hit out at the arrangements for their exam sittings, but the university has said its setups are in line with public health guidelines.
In the Dáil on Wednesday, Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív asked whether the Department of Higher Education and Skills plans to introduce health regulations in relation to holding in-person exams, “in view of the risk that they might become super-spreader events”.
In a written response, Harris said: “Education is an essential service and the Government has agreed that it can continue on-site, in line with Safe Return Plan published in June.”
An open letter to Harris and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly calling for Christmas exams to be held online has amassed more than 5,000 signatures.
Written by Trinity College Dublin Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) President Gisèle Scanlon and Students4Change Chair László Molnárfi, the letter raised concerns about upcoming in-person exams amid rising coronavirus case numbers.
“After 1.5 years of online learning”, the letter said, “a sudden return to in-person exams would be catastrophic for the mental health of students”.
The letter also raised concerns about the physical safety surrounding in-person exams.
In a statement to The University Times this afternoon, Scanlon said: “There is a lot of frustration and Colleges have been left to their own decision making quoting guidelines as the guiding bannister.”
“Institutions missed an opportunity over the summer to put appropriate plans in place but we went online last year and we can do so now.”
“We are continuing to call on College to put everything that minimises spread in place as numbers are significant nationwide.”
Speaking in the Seanad this week, independent Senator Alice Mary Higgins said: “I have been contacted by students from National University of Ireland Galway, Trinity College Dublin and UCD. It is vital they be given the option of remote exams. We know it is possible because we did it last year.”
“Insisting on in-person exams in crowded exam halls is unnecessary and we should not take any unnecessary risks.”
Labour Senator Annie Hoey said in a video posted to Twitter that she was “acutely aware of the concerns students have around exams being in-person”.
Hoey said she had been contacted by students who have already sat lectures in exam halls “at full capacity” who felt unsafe. She said she would be writing to Harris “yet again, requesting instructions on moving exams online”.
Trinity has said that all in-person RDS exams will take place at less than 50 per cent capacity.
