Pupils deserve what help we can give them

Much of their secondary education has been blighted by uncertainty as politicians tried and failed to transform the island’s school system.

They will have despaired as they and their parents were first told they were in a broken structure then years went by with no clarity on how it was going to be fixed.

Good teachers, disrupted by the doubt, came and went. Those who stayed could not help being distracted at times as staff and public meetings were held where their own roles and the futures of their young charges were seemingly at stake.

And this year, at the culmination of the sixth-formers’ schooling, the pandemic struck.

Classes were cancelled, schools closed and suddenly, just as they were preparing for some of the most important academic exams of their young lives, they were out on their own, relying on online classes and not knowing how and when they might get to show what they had learned.

Their exams were eventually cancelled and the uncertainty continued right up to this week when the UK government bowed to pressure and made last-minute changes to the grading process.

Sixth-formers picking up their results today could be forgiven for wondering what else can be thrown at them. When will they get a chance to play a game where they know the rules from the start?

That may not be for some time.

For those who go on to university and tertiary colleges the challenges will keep on coming. The effects of Covid-19 will mean many of the usual aspects of student life will have to change.

Freshers week will be a quieter affair, there will be no large lectures and social distancing looks likely to be a part of UK education for some time.

For island students, long used to the relative freedoms of a Covid-free life, it will be another shock to the system.

The resolve and determination that has got them through a badly disrupted school system will be needed for at least another year or two.

Given all that has been thrown at them, it would be nice if the island helped them get to university without any more drama. It’s the least we can do.