The recent spate of violence and anarchy had a negative impact on the country at large. A large number of students, particularly those appearing in O and A level Cambridge system examinations, had to undergo mental and physical trauma owing to the volatile situation. As soon as violent mobs attacked sensitive military installations, the British Council, which is responsible for conducting Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) exams, cancelled the papers for May 10-12.
The exams resumed on May 15 and the authorities announced that they would award grades based on examinations that the candidate had been able to take. It means candidates whose exams had been cancelled will receive a result only if they had sat at least one eligible component and completed at least 15 per cent of the total assessment in the June exam series.
On the other hand, A level candidates were required to sit at least one A2 level component to receive a result for a full A level.
Cambridge has decided to use a system of weightage for results, meaning it would allot grades based on other exams that the student had appeared in. The system will be faulty since it will mean that their whole grade is based on specific components, which might not even have the whole syllabus or might increase the percentiles.
Even if Cambridge would have opted for expected grades, meaning the previous mock exam results of students used to assess their CAIE grades, it would have been problematic, too. The expected grades are faulty since many students usually do not give mock exams much importance and do not score as high as they could, which means they get lower grades.
Another option is that students sit the exams in the October/November series. The retake can be problematic for A level students since their results would get delayed and they would not be able to apply to universities in time.
However, there are many A level students who could not sit any component of Mathematics and History owing to the cancellation of papers during those three days. Cambridge is still trying to find how those candidates can be managed. All this has caused significant tension for the student community in Pakistan.
The violent activities of a few have put the academic career of thousands of students across the country at stake. I wonder if those responsible for this huge loss care about the students at all.
HASSAAN AHMED CHAUDHARY
LAHORE
