As of today (24 March 2020), the number of cases of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has risen to 350,433 and deaths to 16,070. The UK has decided to suspend and cancel all GCSE and A-level exams in the coming May/June series, acknowledging that the virus may spread during the peak exam season when students and teachers alike are required to be in close proximity of each other. Last night, Cambridge Assessment International announced that they will cancel their IGCSE exams worldwide for the May/June 2020 series. The International Baccalaureate also made the announcement that they too would be cancelling their examinations. Given that the IB is a much more significant qualification than IGCSE, this should emphasise the severity of this situation and urge Edexcel to follow suit. If Edexcel does choose to go ahead with their examinations, it would create discrepancies in many students' grades worldwide as not all IGCSE subjects are facilitated by Cambridge or Edexcel fully. Most students will have to sit exams from both these exam boards. It will not be fair on students to have some subjects graded by an exam and the rest by coursework/achievement or whatever method Cambridge decides upon.

I suggest Edexcel cancel their IGCSE May/June 2020 examination series for the following reasons:

1. During the exam season (May-June) is when the virus will be spreading at its peak. Students are especially vulnerable to the contagious Covid-19 as students are seated in masses numbers in confined halls. Not to mention, the staff and teachers who are at a rather old age are more susceptible to the virus too. The students may also end up bringing the virus back to their families where further damage could be done if they are unaware that they are carriers of the virus. We have already seen that 1 of the 2 deaths is from a man that was in healthy condition, and moderately young. This shows that anyone is vulnerable to the virus. Parents are worried that their children could be putting themselves at risk, being exposed to so many people at once. It is better safe that sorry. 

2. To ensure fairness to all students. If students in the UK do not have to sit for their exams and are awarded grades in a different method, this gives them the advantage over students who have to sit the exams in the current pandemic situation. Schools have been closed, classes have been suspended and online classes are even banned. Students in other countries are massively disadvantaged and may not be able to perform well in the upcoming exams. This will affect their application and admissions into universities worldwide. If the exams are cancelled, this will ensure fairness amongst all the students when they are applying to universities.

I suggest that exams be postponed or cancelled in conjunction with Cambridge. This will benefit students worldwide in terms of fairness as well as health-wise.