Live Correspondent: Over 70,000 Scottish school pupils who had their results downgraded after being unable to sit key exams due to the coronavirus outbreak will have their marks restored, the government said Tuesday.

The government will now accept the initial teacher estimates for 124,564 grades that were downgraded in the moderation process, affecting around 75,000 pupils.

“I can confirm to parliament today that all downgraded awards will be withdrawn,” Education Secretary John Swinney said in a statement to the Scottish parliament.

“We set out to ensure that the system was fair. We set out to ensure it was credible. But we did not get it right for all young people,” he said earlier.

“In speaking directly to the young people affected by the downgrading of awards — the 75,000 pupils whose teacher estimates were higher than their final award — I want to say this: I am sorry.”

The coronavirus lockdown saw all school exams cancelled and replaced by teacher estimates that were fed through a moderation system intended to bring them in line with previous years’ results.

The pupils complained that the moderation process gave unfair weighting to the historical performance of the school and of the local area, disproportionately affecting poor students.

Pass rates for pupils in the most deprived areas were reduced by 15.2 percent, compared with 6.9 percent in more affluent areas.

Dhaka, 12 August (campuslive24.com)//MI