Dismissing the case, Mr Justice Garrett Simons in the High Court said the student failed to establish the marking scheme is in breach of requirements of the 1998 Education Act, as alleged.The High Court has dismissed a secondary school student’s challenge to the marking scheme for the Leaving Certificate Mandarin Chinese exam.
The Taiwanese-born student alleged the curriculum required written answers to be given in simplified Mandarin characters, which are predominantly used in Singapore, Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China.Bids on North Dock offices fall hopelessly short of €130m sought by receiversSuing through his mother, the student claimed the requirement to use simplified characters discriminated against those from places using traditional characters.
The fact that a subset of candidates for a language exam might, due to their heritage, have an initial advantage over other candidates did not amount to discrimination, he ruled. “Far too frequently, expert witnesses appear to fundamentally misunderstand their role and wrongly regard themselves as advocates for the cause of the party by whom they have been retained.”