Edexcel Advanced Level (A'Level) examinations have been cancelled in Maldives, after multiple examination papers were leaked.
Since the A'Level exams started on 26 April for students of grades 11 and 12, three separate Edexcel papers have been leaked. They were the Physics paper, held last Thursday, the Biology paper held on Friday and the Chemistry paper that was meant to be held on Monday afternoon.
Announcing the cancellation of the examinations, Minister of Education Dr. Aishath Ali said this decision was taken as the credibility of the examinations were now lost.
"The exam will not go on as per schedule," she said.
She went on to say that the exams were continued after the initial leak because Edexcel assured them no more papers would be leaked. However after the leak on early Monday morning, the trust that was placed on this examination has been lost, she said.
"They reassured us there would not be any more leaks, that they had identified how the papers were being leaked. However, we got the [leaked] paper this morning, for the exam that was meant to be held in the afternoon," Minister said.
"Therefore we met the school principals, and other relevant parties on this issue, and after discussing it, we have decided to provide two options to the students."
She said they met a lot of students, and they were split on the matter. Some wanted the examination to continue as per schedule while others wanted to cancel this exam and move to the October/November examination.
One of the options Edexcel provided was to cancel this exam and for the students to sit the October/November examination instead. This option has now been provided for the students as well.
The second option were teacher-based assessments for the students that wanted to continue with the April/May exams.
Teacher-based assessments were explained by Mohamed Ihusan, who is currently managing the Department of Public Examination (DPE),
As per him, these assessments will be provided to the students by their own schools. The results from these exams, in addition to the mock exam results, and the forecasts teachers made for these students will be shared with Edexcel.
"These results, and the other ecidence will be considered when Edexcel grades the students. They will receive the Edexcel certification only," Ihusan said.
He said the teacher based examinations will start within this month. The results from these assessments will have to be shared to Edexcel before mid May.
Students that do these assessments will not qualify for the President's Scholarship. However they will not face difficulties when applyig for higher studies in foreign institutions.
The Education Ministry, however, urges all students to do the exam in October/November.
Education Ministry said that 2,281 students from 44 centers all over the country were going to do these exams this time around.
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