The Minister for Education, Mr Martin, has announced that he wants at least 90 per cent of all 17 to 19 year olds to take the Leaving Certificate by the year 2000.
The Leaving Cert programme is now followed by 84 per cent in that age group, already one of the highest proportions in Europe.
The Minister's announcement comes as 65,000 students wake up this morning to the dread prospect of collecting their Leaving Cert results, which will determine third level and thus career choices for a large proportion of them.
He points out that five of the six new syllabuses being examined for the first time this year were in languages - Irish, French, German, Spanish and Italian - and the percentage of marks for speaking and listening in these exams had been increased to 45 per cent.
Mr Martin wants to increase the emphasis on oral competency in schools, and extend it to examinations in subjects such as English. He has announced that he is asking the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to consider the wider provision of oral exams at Junior Certificate level.
Mr Martin has also praised the new higher mathematics syllabus. Over the past four years, this has contributed to a 60 per cent increase in the numbers sitting the subject at Leaving Certificate. There has also been a "very significant increase" in the numbers of girls sitting maths at this level, he said.
He has also extended congratulations to the first 750 students to complete the new Leaving Certificate Applied course, all but 80 of whom got a distinction, merit or pass mark in the exam. The LCA is a more vocationally-oriented course than the traditional examination, aimed at preparing students for the world of work.
Senator Feargal Quinn, who chaired the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment's LCA course committee, said these students were "pioneers in one of the most important developments in Irish education for a generation at least". The LCA brought forward the day when second-level graduates would have a real choice between going to university, and developing "practical and marketable skills for employment and adult life". He expressed confidence that the LCA would "very fast become a sought-after qualification in the jobs marketplace".
Today's Leaving Certificate figures show few dramatic changes from last year's results. Many will see this as a strength, pointing to last week's controversy in Britain over whether higher grades means lower standards.
"It means that the Leaving Cert continues to be a good benchmark for judging pupils' attainment over a wide range of subjects," the deputy general secretary of the main secondary teachers union, the ASTI, Mr John White, said. With the numbers applying for college places up by something more than 2,000, and about 1,200-1,300 new places - most of them in computer subjects - today's exam results are unlikely to have any major impact on the points required for third level.
The results show the continuing trend toward more students taking higher level mathematics and applied mathematics, with high marks in both subjects. Among the sciences, biology, which is taken by large numbers of girls, registers increasing proportions of high A and B grades.
There are signs that the long-term decline in the numbers taking higher level Irish is bottoming out, with the percentage of students getting the highest A grade increasing by nearly 1 per cent.
The education officer of the Teachers Union of Ireland, Ms Rose Malone, expressed concern that it seemed more difficult to get high grades in practical subjects such as engineering than more academic subjects. This was because several elements - practical work, a project and a written exam - went into their Leaving Cert mark, leading to an "averaging" effect.