The Guardian editorial calls on the Home Secretary to take action over international students

The Guardian editorial calls on the Home Secretary to take action over international students

On 24 April, The Guardian published an editorial online calling on the Home Secretary Sajid Javid to take action over the false allegations of cheating faced by thousands of international students. The editorial appeared in the print edition of the newspaper the following day.

"There is not proof to any recognised legal standard that each individual really cheated in the test of English for international communication (Toeic)," the editorial reads. "Either the Home Office believed ETS and neglected the scale of the fraud, or didn’t believe the numbers and hounded innocent people regardless."

"With no right of appeal it has been hard to bring clarity in court. The few cases that have been heard have vindicated candidates’ claims to have passed the test legally. Some victims of the purge did not attend the centres where they are alleged to have cheated. Some are fluent English speakers for whom the test was a formality and had no reason to cheat. People have been crushed by the shame of a false allegation that poisons family relations and blights careers.

"The Toeic cases are a test and an opportunity for the current home secretary."

Read the full editorial here.

And see further Guardian coverage of this issue here, here, here and here.