AFTER last summer's appalling exams chaos, which meant serious delays and the need to re-mark countless papers, it is outrageous that we are now being warned the system is close to breaking point.
The logistics of sending 24 million exam scripts to points might be horrendous. The organisational headaches might be mammoth.
But that is no consolation to students who have applied for university places and need to know whether they have achieved the right grades. Or to the universities. Or to the students' teachers.
Those who are responsible for handling the marking system should hang their heads in shame. So should Education Secretary Charles Clarke.
Like teachers everywhere, those in Swindon's secondary schools, like those everywhere, are entitled to a guaranteed assurance that this year there will be no deliberate marking down. That exam papers and completed scripts will not be lost in transit.
And that our hard-working students are not going to be fodder for an exercise in manipulating demand for university places.
They are the seed corn of our future. They deserve to be nurtured, not disappointed and disillusioned.
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