Abigail Ward, 16, who attends Gildredge House school in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was disqualified by exam board OCR after her vegetarian views were mistaken for Islamophobic comments.
Vegetarian GCSE student 16, is disqualified for ‘obscene racial comments’ because she criticised halal meat in Religious Studies exam
- Abigail Ward, 16, was told by exam board OCR that she would be disqualified
- Appeal launched by her school, Gildredge House in Eastbourne, East Sussex
- Examiner had taken her comment on halal butchers to be Islamophobic
- But school argued it was in relation to vegetarianism, not opinion on Muslims
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, the 36-year-old said the family were shocked by the decision to disqualify her daughter, and the exam board has since been overturned the decision.
She said: ‘Abbey is an animal lover and a very strict vegetarian.
‘It made me angry … when asked a question in the exam, you can’t even express your feelings.
‘It’s great that it has been overturned, but it should never have happened.’
In a statement, OCR said it has apologised to Abbey, adding that its initial conclusion was incorrect and ‘too harsh’.
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GCSE student was disqualified for “obscene racial comments” after an examiner mistook her vegetarianism for Islamophobia, it has emerged.
Abigail Ward, a 16-yearold pupil at Gildredge House school in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was penalised for her observations about halal meat during a Religious Studies exam in June.
She was informed by exam board OCR she had committed a “malpractice offence” and would be disqualified from the qualification “due to obscene racial comments being made throughout an exam paper”
But the disqualification was overturned when it transpired Miss Ward, a strict vegetarian, was simply expressing her distaste for halal butchers.
