Covid-19: GCSE and A-level exams 'will go ahead in NI in 2021'

GCSE, AS and A-level exams will go ahead in Northern Ireland in summer 2021, the education minister has said.

Peter Weir was speaking after the Welsh government confirmed its 2021 results will be based on classroom assessments due to the impact of the pandemic.

Earlier, Northern Ireland's Children's Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma urged Mr Weir to cancel exams in NI too.

But he said: "Wales are free to make their own choices but it's not one that we'd be following".

Mr Weir added that continuing with exams was the "fairest and most equitable system".

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme on Tuesday, the education minister said exams represented the "fairest way of judging students".

"Faced with the choice of exams or placing students and teachers under seven months of continuous pressure, because that is what continuous assessment will mean, I think it's best to proceed with the first choice of exams moving forward for Northern Ireland," Mr Weir added.

There has been some disruption to schools since the start of term, with significant numbers of pupils self-isolating for 14 days.

An independent review in Wales recommended any form of GCSE or A-level exams in 2021 would be unfair due to Covid-19.

GCSE, AS and A-level exams in Wales were cancelled on Tuesday.

The government in Scotland has already decided to cancel National 5 exams - which are roughly equivalent to GCSEs - in 2021 and replace them with teacher assessments and coursework.

In Northern Ireland, the exams board Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) has reduced the number of exams in many GCSE subjects.

Earlier, a union representing many school leaders, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said cancelling exams in 2021 "cannot be ruled out".

Children's Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma said that young people were "suffering mentally" in a bid to ensure every assignment and class test was perfect.

In 2020, pupils received grades calculated by their schools as exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Principal of Devenish College in Enniskillen Simon Mowbray said examinations were the fairest means in which grades are usually awarded, but under the current circumstances it was "creating inequalities".