KARACHI: From spending several anxious hours since the early hours of Friday worrying about what is to become of their grades to when they started checking if their revised grades had been uploaded, several Cambridge International students heaved a sigh of relief, though there were still many who remained unhappy about what they got. But none of them blamed Cambridge International. They said their educational institutions were the ones really at fault here.

“It was on August 11 when I contacted my school for my grades and I was given the Cambridge results which happened to be one U, a B and a C. When I asked my school about the predicted grades which they had given to Cambridge, the administration said three Bs. Later, my headmistress told me that they had sent Cambridge two Bs and one A. My revised grades today are two Bs and one C,” one student, who wasn’t too happy with what he got, told Dawn.

“I know that I have been wronged but not by Cambridge International. There is another student who the headmistress is quite fond of had three As for his predicted grades. When I asked her why I deserved a B for a subject, she pointed to my B in my midterms but the other student had got a D in his midterms. When I asked her about that she had no answer,” he said.

“Call it favouritism, call it nepotism, it’s all part of our society and now it has hurt us, students, badly because Cambridge International was depending on our institutions for guidance regarding our grades. They thought they would do it honestly but what can one say or do?” He concluded.

“We don’t blame Cambridge International. They only acted on the predicted grades given to them for the students by their respective educational institutions. The real culprits are the education institutions here,” an A-Levels student from another elite and reputable institution in Gulshan-i-Iqbal said.

“Some teachers and principals had their favourite students for whom they sent A or A+ grades. Then to balance it out as so many or all can’t be getting As, they mentioned lower predicted grades for others,” she added.

“The second time around, when they were asked to reassess it was an ego issue for them. Some had a problem saying that they had been mistaken earlier,” the student, who was also not pleased with her revised grades, said.

The student said that her particular institution also made errors in registrations. “See the June candidates get their results by August in time for applying to colleges. That is why it is the most desirable time to appear for one’s final exams. Those who appear in November are usually the ones who didn’t get the desired grades or who failed and want to reappear in certain subjects. November results come around January, which wastes a student’s entire year as he or she misses college application time.

“When our college made errors in registrations for June and when the students, who had registered for June approached them, they told them that there was something or the other missing in their papers, which was lies. Many students’ entire year was wasted thanks to the carelessness of the institution,” she said.

Earlier, after the initial grades announced on Aug 11, and after hearing out the students’ concerns, Cambridge International explained the procedure of awarding grades to students for the June 2020 series.

They had decided that the grades that they issue for the June 2020 series would not be lower than the predicted grade submitted by the school, and where a grade that they issued last week was higher than the predicted grade, the higher grade would stand.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2020