Staff are set to protest at cutbacks

The CCEA said strikes over pay by non-teaching staff on Wednesday did not disrupt tests.

Classroom assistants picketed many primary and special schools over delays in re-assessing their pay structure.

Nipsa said it called on members employed by the education and library boards to strike saying they had been underpaid for years.

Nipsa's General Secretary John Corey said it was disgraceful that the staff had been forced to take strike action.

"It is disgraceful that people who provide an essential service for the education of children - and particularly for the most precious of children with special needs - should be forced to take strike action to achieve basic fairness on pay," he said.

To attempt to cancel and/or reschedule so many papers at such short notice has the potential to both compromise the examinations and to disadvantage students Neil Anderson CCEA

Northern Ireland's exams body, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), said it informed all schools and colleges that timetabled GCSE, GCE and Key Skills examinations would go ahead as normal.

CCEA Director of Operations Neil Anderson said it had looked carefully at all of the options open it.

"With 17 different examination papers covering ten subjects taking place over the two days totalling almost 35,000 entries, we feel we have no option but to go ahead with the examinations as scheduled," he said.

"To attempt to cancel and/or reschedule so many papers at such short notice has the potential to both compromise the examinations and to disadvantage students."

On Tuesday, the secretary of the Irish National Teachers union hinted at a boost for Northern Ireland's schools.

Frank Bunting said he expected there would be "good news" for teachers and classroom assistants in the next two weeks.

He was speaking following talks with the education minister.