Merseyside students urge Government to rethink exam plans

Students in Merseyside are calling on the government to rethink plans to hold exams next year or risk 'failing a whole generation'.

This week Scotland announced all Higher Exams will be cancelled in 2021 due to disruption caused by coronavirus.

Wales has already said GCSE's and A Levels won't go ahead there.

But despite more than 170 thousand people signing a petition demanding change - Education bosses here are digging in their heels.

Alex D'arcy, a student at Merchant Taylor's in Crosby, started the petition:

"The Government should cancel GCSEs and A Levels in 2021 due to the disruption of Covid-19. By the time students go back to normal learning, 6 months will have passed since schools were closed to most pupils. This has already had a huge impact on the studying of so many.

"I was one out of five in my year group that didn't have to self isolate. I know people who have had to stay off for six weeks and I've seen the damage it's had on their physical and mental health.

"You're going to get students from Scotland and Wales not having to sit exams and getting predicted grades. They're going to be applying for the same college and university places as students in other parts of the UK sitting exams.

"Are their grades going to be undervalued? Are our grades going to be undervalued?"

The government has issued the following response :

"The Government is committed to GCSE, AS and A level exams taking place next year. We continue to believe that exams are the best and fairest way of judging students’ performance."