Furious pupils to stage protest in George Square over ‘unfair’ results

School pupils are planning a protest today over their exam results in Glasgow.

Erin Bleakley, 17, has organised the event and she said she hopes it will highlight how pupils living in areas of high deprivation were disproportionately impacted by marks being downgraded.

The pass rate of pupils in the most deprived data zones was reduced by 15.2 per cent from teacher estimates after the exam board’s moderation. In contrast, the pass rate for pupils from the most affluent backgrounds dropped by 6.9 per cent. Miss Bleakley said: “We deserve the same life chances as young people in affluent areas. How can anyone expect to close the attainment gap when your hard work can be wiped out based on your postcode?

“There needs to be recognition that living somewhere that is termed an area of deprivation should not be something that prevents young people from progressing to further or higher education.”

The teenager attends St Andrew’s high school in Carntyne, Glasgow, which earlier this year was identified as being the second most deprived area in the country, according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Miss Bleakley said she was nervous about the moderation system brought in when exams were cancelled due to coronavirus.

She said: “I did not think it was fair that we were being marked down on how past pupils had performed as we are all individuals.”

“Requesting teachers to use their professional judgment based on a combination of previous work, prelims and other test results along with their knowledge of each particular student should have been robust enough assessment.”

The protest, originally set to take place outside the SQA offices, is now planned for George Square between 6.30am and 12.30pm.

An SQA spokesman said: “This year’s results will be cause for celebration for many people but disappointment for others. While this is a strong set of results overall – up on 2019 – this year is no different.”

“We deserve the same life chances as young people in affluent areas”

ERIN BLEAKLEY