State school pupils were almost twice as likely as those in private education to have their exam grades marked down, figures reveal.
More than one in four children at Scotland’s 339 local authority secondary schools were downgraded by the country’s exam body.
Just one in seven pupils at fee-paying independent schools had their marks adjusted down, Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) statistics show.
Educationalists, teaching unions and politicians said the findings were worrying with the fate of next year’s exams still unclear.
Education Secretary John Swinney said earlier this month National 5 exams would not go ahead in 2021 and Highers and Advanced Highers would be delayed.
Scottish Greens Education spokesman Ross Greer MSP said: “Private schools are engines of inequality, so for the exams authority and Government to see how much of an advantage the system gave them, before going ahead with it anyway, is a damning insight into their judgment.”
An SQA spokesman said: “Almost three-quarters of estimates we received were unchanged.
“Following Ministerial direction, young people across Scotland were awarded teacher estimates unless the moderation resulted in an upgrade.
“Local authority schools saw proportionately more upgrades than independent schools through moderation.”
