A row has broken out over what constitutes a pass for the IGCSE exams taken by Bermuda secondary school students.Educators evaluating IGCSE results for Bermuda’s public schools have said the more rigorous C grade is the internationally accepted measure for how many students passed the exams.“As far as Bermuda is concerned, 54 percent passed,” Bermuda Union of Teachers President Mike Charles of the Cambridge IGCSE exams taken earlier this year by public school students. “We only accept a C although as far as the Cambridge system is concerned, an A to a G is a passing grade.”Although Government reported an overall pass rate of 90 percent for the exams, only grades of C and above are judged for Warwick Academy’s international baccalaureate (IB) programme, or the Advanced Placements (AP) offered at Saltus.“Most schools report their results as the number of A through C grades, and if it’s not A to C, it’s not acceptable at a university level,” said Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons.A Government spokeswoman last night said the Ministry of Education did not make up its own passing grades for external examinations for the GCSEs, which are administered by Cambridge International Examinations.“The Ministry accepts what Cambridge or any of the other Boards considers a pass,” the spokesperson said. “The pass rate is A-G for the GCSEs. However, if the discussion is about the level of the pass, then certainly a grade of 70 and above, C or above, is of more significance in terms of whether it was barely passing or at the top end.”Last year, Government reported an 80 percent pass rate, with 214 of the 266 public school GCSEs taking an A to C grade.“I find it interesting that the grade results were better for last year,” Dr Gibbons said. “The drop is probably as a consequence of the broader numbers of senior students taking the exams.”He called for “the equivalent of an education Auditor General” in reporting exam results.“I don’t understand why the Minister does not release the full results,” Dr Gibbons. “We need a lot more disclosure of data. People would be interested to know the figures for the Berkeley Institute versus CedarBridge. From time to time I’ve called for an independent studies board like Ofsted.”Ofsted is the UK’s Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, an independent evaluator of schools.Dr Gibbons commended public school teachers for the international exam results for primary six and middle school students. The Ministry of Education reported middle schoolers were performing close to the world Cambridge International average.However, the Shadow Minister said these results were “obviously inadequate for the longer term”.“In terms of colleges overseas, we need to be a lot better than the world average for our public school system,” he said.Saltus alumni director Jon Beard said the AP standard admission standard for senior year was “five GCSEs with a C or above”.“Most universities and other institutions would regard a C as a pass,” he said.Warwick Academy deputy principal Dave Horan explained: “For the GCSE, getting a G or above represents a pass. A fail is a U grade for unclassified. However, for higher education, a C or better is a pass, and that’s what we use as our benchmark.”The school’s IB programme accepts five C grades, or seven for the IB diploma.A member of staff at Bermuda College said no guidelines for evaluating GCSE grades were in place yet for admissions, as the international examinations were still in their early stages of introduction in Bermuda.A total of 577 external exams were sat by 350 public senior school students in June of this year, representing an average of 1.65 GCSEs per student.