'Cambridge results put Pakistani students' future at stakes'  

KARACHI: All Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association on Monday said that future of the students in Pakistan was put at stakes by Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) after they downgraded results by 40 percent, ARY NEWS reported.

The chairman of the private schools and colleges body Hyder Ali said that the Cambridge negated its own rules and awarded lower grades to the students after downgrading the results by 40 percent.

“Why only schools are given the authority to appeal against the results,” he said while raising questions over the Cambridge’s decision to deny the right of appeal to the individual student.

He asked the federal government to force the CAIE to change the results of the O and A levels in Pakistan, which are unacceptable to them.

The chairman said that the Cambridge totally negated the results conveyed to them by the educational institutes in the country and carried out the marking on the basis of their perception.

It is pertinent to mention here that on Monday, the British government bowed to pressure over its school exam grading system, ditching an algorithm that downgraded results awarded to students for tests they did not take because of COVID-19 and provoked a public outcry.

The government had faced days of criticism after the algorithm used to assess grade predictions made by teachers lowered those grades for almost 40% of students taking their main school-leaving exams.

Students will now be awarded the grade that their teachers had predicted for them based on past performance, the government said on Monday.