KARACHI, June 7: Michael O’Sullivan, the chief executive officer of the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), arrived here on Friday to deal with uproar following cancellation of O Level examinations of Islamiyat and Pakistan Studies given last month.

In an exclusive interview, Mr O’Sullivan said he understood the feelings of students and their parents and was truly sorry for what had happened.

“I have come to Pakistan several times and know how the families and entire households here get involved in their children’s examinations. I realise the impact this breach and the taking of the two papers again will have on them. But unfortunately this is the only way for us to deal with the situation,” he said regretfully.

“That is really why I have flown down to Pakistan, to speak to students, their parents and schools here. It is important that we communicate on this,” he added.

Asked if something like this had ever been experienced before, the CIE chief, who was appointed to the position in April, said it was extremely rare. “It is almost unprecedented,” he said.

Mr O’Sullivan declined to comment on how the breach had been discovered and whether or not those responsible had been taken to task. “Since investigations are still under way, it would be premature to comment on it. What we do know for sure is that after the exams we became aware that a significant number of students in Pakistan had gotten access to the exam material beforehand which they had also passed on to their friends. So security was breached. The exams have been compromised as a result of that.

“We have a variety of sources of evidence pointing to this fact. But if I spoke about those sources of information, and how the breach happened, I would also be hurting the investigations going on,” he explained.

“Still, we can say that even though some students here saw the papers before sitting for the actual exams, based on points, we are sure that the breach itself was not caused in Pakistan.”

He made it clear that even though investigation was continuing, the CIE would not be going back on its decision to give the examinations again, regardless of the outcome.

On being asked then why students in Pakistan alone have to sit for the exams if the breach didn’t happen at this end, he said the majority who took these two subjects were in this country although the CIE could also announce a retaking of the exams in other countries where they were held too.

“I would also like to say that the new papers will be of equivalent levels of difficulty and the results will also be announced on schedule in August with the other subjects,” he pointed out.

Furious parents have threatened to sue the CIE, the British Council in Pakistan and several schools here but Mr O’Sullivan said no one had taken legal action against them as yet. Many students, after having appeared for their exams in May also left their cities or even the country for summer vacations and may not be able to retake the exams on the fresh dates of June 13 and 14.

“Well, they can approach us so that we can arrange the exams for them wherever they may be on June 13 and 14. They also have the option of taking the exams in November without any payment for it as they have already paid for the May exams,” he said. Some parents have said the children may not be in a very focused frame of mind for the exams being given again. Therefore, the CIE board should check and compare both their earlier answer sheets and the latter ones in order to give them the better of the two grades.

To this Mr O’Sullivan said they had saved the original exam answer books, too, and would decide what to do about it if the difference in grade was too big.

Asked what happens if as a result of all that has happened schools in Pakistan shun the Cambridge board and opt for other international boards next time, and wouldn’t it have been better for them to ignore the breach in order to avoid all this negative publicity, the CEO said: “Once again, we completely understand the distress students and their families are going through. But we had to take these steps to make sure the integrity and validity of examinations is maintained and to be sure that students have a fair chance of getting a valid grade without being disadvantaged.”