The gender gap in education has widened with female students outperforming their male counterparts in all the main Leaving Certificate subjects, based on results out yeterday, Sean Flynn Irish Times Education Editor reports.
Girls gained more honours in Irish, English and maths, and outperformed the boys in physics, biology and chemistry, often regarded as male preserves.
The top Leaving Cert result was secured by Emer McGrath, an 18-year-old student from Co Mayo. She secured eight A1s (90 -100 per cent) and is now planning to study physics in Trinity. Asked how it felt to be the top student, she said it was "pretty cool". Her A1s were in English, maths, French, accounting, physics, chemistry and applied maths.
In physics, 76 per cent of girls got honours in higher-level papers, compared to 64 per cent of boys. In geography, 73 per cent of girls achieved honours, compared to 66 per cent of boys. At ordinary level, the failure rate for boys was higher than for girls in maths and languages.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, has signalled he is ready to take radical action to help achieve greater equality in the system. He said the abolition of college fees had failed to achieve greater equality and would be examining how the money was spent on third-level.