Recently, a case of 32 missing O-level scripts was reported on Jan. 14, 2019.

A Cambridge examiner lost them while on the train to the North of England.

This caused some commotion back in Singapore, with most of the finger-blaming aimed at the perceived carelessness of the examiner.

Many were reminded of the time 238 A-level Chemistry scripts were stolen in February 2018.

Such incidents have sparked calls for exam scripts to be marked in Singapore.

Why Cambridge

There were also many comments seeking to answer these questions.

To find out the exact reasons, we decided to ask the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) why papers are marked over at Cambridge, instead of Singapore.

Here's their response.

"The Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) engage Cambridge Assessment to develop and mark Singapore’s GCE N/O/A-Level examinations as they have deep expertise and rich experience in setting national examinations worldwide.

Cambridge Assessment also taps on the expertise and domain knowledge of a pool of professors and experienced educators from the universities and institutions in the United Kingdom (UK).

While Cambridge Assessment marks the GCE N/O/A-Level answer scripts, MOE and SEAB determine the standards and award of grades for these subjects, in consultation with Cambridge Assessment.

There is value to continue engaging Cambridge Assessment to mark the majority of the GCE N/O/A-Level scripts.

Given the large number of subjects and papers examined in the GCE-level examinations, any changes to the conduct of the national examination or the examination processes must be carefully planned, taking into consideration the timeline and resources available."

So, in summation, Cambridge Assessment has a rich vein of experience, a large pool of professors, and it would be quite a drain on our resources if we were to mark the paper in Singapore.

Cambridge Assessment, according to its website, is a department of the University of Cambridge that provides education programmes and exams in over 170 countries.

Despite that, MOE and SEAB play a part in setting the standards and grades for the subjects.

Here's the explainer to catch you up

Image collated from MOE

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