Tag: A Levels

  • Cambridge grading system under fire after outrage from Pakistani students

    Cambridge grading system under fire after outrage from Pakistani students

    Pakistani students have slammed Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) after results for 2023 examinations came to light.

    Cambridge exams were disrupted in Pakistan due to riots on May 9 and 12. However, instead of rescheduling the affected papers, Cambridge allegedly opted to allocate average marks.
    The announcement of the results, on August 10, has stirred frustration among students across Pakistan, as only a small number managed to attain A and B grades. More than 45,000 students appeared in the exams.

    In response, students expressed their intent to stage peaceful protests in Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore, to highlight what they perceive as an injustice done by Cambridge.

    Outraged students have turned to social media, urging a rescheduling of the exams to provide them with a fair opportunity to showcase their capabilities and receive grades reflective of their performance.

    Students took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to run an online campaign and raise their concerns regarding the issue.

    X user, Muhammad Awais Sial mentioned that Cambridge graded them on components where scoring marks are inevitable.
    https://twitter.com/MASial34789939/status/1690045360998322176?s=20

    https://twitter.com/MASial34789939/status/1690045360998322176?s=20

    Senior Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League (N), Maryam Nawaz, also expressed concerns, stating that numerous students have reached out to her. She urged the CIE to consider the conditions in which students sat during these exams while reviewing the results on fairgrounds.

    Chief organiser of President Punjab PML(N), Mohammad Sarwar mentioned that he has been contacted by students who are disheartened after receiving E grades. The former chief minister of Punjab stated that he has reached out to a member of the House of Lords, Wajid Khan, for support in urging CIE to review their grading process.

    Activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir explained the issue in detail while demanding that “Cambridge Assessment International Education and British Council Pakistan needs to provide details and transparency in the mechanism adopted this year and it must ensure that students of Pakistan did not suffer in particular due to some discriminatory or flawed policy.”

    Addressing the concerned Cambridge students, Uzma Yousuf, the Country Director for CAIE Pakistan, stated, “Cancelling the exams on 10, 11 and 12 May has been a difficult decision for the British Council. Your safety and well-being come first, and that’s why this decision was taken.”

    She further added, “Our team is continuously monitoring the situation, and we will keep you updated as we have more information. We are completely committed to providing a safe and secure environment for you to sit for your exams.”

  • Teenage dies after home roof falls on him in DHA

    Teenage dies after home roof falls on him in DHA

    Mustafa Hashmi, a 17-year-old student at Nixor College, Karachi was killed when a large piece of concrete from his roof broke off and fell on him in Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Phase-VII.

    While speaking to Dawn, his grief-stricken father, Mahmood Hashmi, an architect himself by profession, said that Mustafa was their only son. He was preparing for the A-level examinations and had already appeared in two papers.

    According to him, the family of three got a portion on rent around six months ago. They were told to get the house repaired with their own finances, which they did.

    He recalled that on 26 Ramzan, he and his wife Khadija Hashmi and their son were asleep in the room when a heavy thick piece of concrete slab fell on them. The parents remained safe however the concrete piece fell on Mustafa’s head.

    “My son died in his sleep as he did not cry or utter any word,” Hashmi recalled.

    The father complained that a private hospital refused to give them Mustafa’s death certificate and cited legal complications.

    He then took his son to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to get a death certificate where he used sifarish (recommendation) to get it.

    “My son died due to negligence; had the owner maintained its repair properly, my son would have been alive today,” said the father.

    He said he might not seek legal proceedings.

  • Cambridge agrees to revise O/A Level grades

    Cambridge agrees to revise O/A Level grades

    The Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) has agreed to revise the grades issued for the June 2020 series and has announced that the grades will not be lower than the predicted grade submitted by the school, adding that “if a grade that was issued last week higher than the predicted grade, the higher grade will stand”.

    Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood announced the decision on social media and expressed his relief over the matter.

    Mahmood also shared that Prime Minister Imran Khan was “deeply concerned about this issue and asked me to help resolve it”.

    Read more – APS attack survivor Ahmad Nawaz is heading to Oxford University

    Similarly, Education Minister for Punjab Dr Murad Raas tweeted the official statement of Country Director CAIE which read: “We have decided that grades we issue for the June 2020 series will not be lower than the predicted grade submitted by the school. Where a grade we issued last week was higher than the predicted grade, the higher grade will stand.”

    The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown this year had forced CAIE to cancel its May/June 2020 exams worldwide. The examination board later announced that certificates would be awarded without exams under a new four-step assessment mechanism which included teachers’ predicted grades, ranking order, school review/approval and standardisation.

    However, after the results were announced last week, students started raising concerns and protested against the grades which were lower than their expectations and previous performance. They believed that Cambridge’s grade prediction system downgraded their qualifications, causing many to lose university placements and essential scholarships. Following the outrage, the government stepped in to assist students and Mahmood on Friday shared that Cambridge agreed to review its grading procedure.

    Meanwhile, in a statement issued Friday, CAIE said it had been listening to feedback and suggestions from schools and students and had been “looking carefully at how to act on it.”

    “Since we released our results on August 11, we’ve been listening to the feedback and suggestions from our schools and students. We know schools have been pleased that we were able to provide grades in challenging circumstances,” it said.

    It added, “We have also heard your concerns about some aspects of our process, and we understand the real anxieties Cambridge students are facing at the moment. We have been looking carefully at how to act on your feedback, and at the same time make sure schools, universities and employers continue to trust our qualifications.”

    “On Tuesday, August 18, we will let you know the actions we will take,” it added.

    It is pertinent to mention here that the issue at hand was not limited to Pakistan alone. According to a report in BBC, approximately 40% of A-Level results of students in England were downgraded after the exams regulator Ofqual used an algorithm based on a schools’ previous results. This sparked outrage among the public following which the UK government, after discussing the matter, announced that A-level and GCSE students in England will be given grades estimated by their teachers, rather than by an algorithm.