Protest pupil 'never thought this day would come' after exam U-turn

A student who organised a protest over the exam results fiasco has said she “did not think this day would come” following the Scottish Government’s U-turn.

On Tuesday, education secretary John Swinney announced all results that were downgraded by the SQA’s controversial moderation process were to be withdrawn and replaced by teachers’ estimates.

Glasgow: The protest took place at George Square.

Erin Bleakley, 17, a pupil at St Andrew’s High School in Glasgow, held a protest at the city’s George Square on Friday after four of her six results were downgraded.

Around 100 other students joined her at the demonstration, claiming the SQA system had penalised pupils who live in the less affluent areas of Scotland.

The SQA downgraded 124,564 results – 93.1% of all the moderated grades – based on criteria including schools’ historic performances.

Pupils from the most deprived areas of Scotland had their grades reduced by 15.2% compared with 6.9% in the most affluent parts of the country.

Protest: The youngsters held up placards. STV News

At the demonstration, the youngsters held up placards with captions such as ‘judge my work, not my postcode’.

Among those speaking at the event were Labour MSP Neil Findlay and Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie.

Following Swinney’s U-turn, Miss Bleakley said: “I think we would all like to say a generous thank you for not only the apology but the results being reverted back to teacher estimates.

“I did not think this day would come.”