Students who get 20% in their Junior Cycle exams will pass them, under planned new reforms.

The Department of Education wants to shift the emphasis from exams to on-going assessment.

According to the Irish Times, other proposals being considered in a draft circular also include using merits and distinctions to show which students get highest marks in their grades.

For example, a student who receives between 90% and 100% in the final written exam will receive a “distinction”, while a student getting between 90% and 75 % will get a “higher merit”.

A mark between 75% and 55% will get a “merit”, between 55% and 40% will receive an “achieved” grading, while scores between 40% and 20% will secure a “partially achieved” grading.

Scores of under 20% will be deemed to be “not graded”.

The department proposes bringing in the new system in the final written exam for English in 2017, and will be expanded to the rest of the junior cycle over the coming years.