Coronavirus in Scotland: All downgraded results scrapped - BBC News
Education Secretary John Swinney says that the downgraded results belonging to 76,000 candidates in Scotland "will be withdrawn".
The significance of the Scottish government’s decision cannot be overestimated.

By simply accepting all teacher estimates, pass rates for National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers are now dramatically higher than normal. This year’s Higher pass rate of 89.2% is 14.4 percentage points up on last year.

The risk of this is that the pass rates this year are so much higher than normal that they would seem to some to be simply implausible.

One important aim of the validation process was to try to ensure that qualifications obtained this year would stand the test of time and stand up to proper scrutiny.

Against this, there is the argument that this year is so difficult and exceptional for young people and the education system that allowances have to be made.

But ultimately this was as much about politics as it was about education.

The SNP sees itself as a progressive centre-left party committed to improving the attainment of young people from disadvantaged areas.

These are the young people for whom education is about a route out of poverty towards a better life – not simply a way of fulfilling ambitions or finding a dream job.

For the party to appear to be defending a system which had disproportionately marked down those youngsters, risked alienating many of their natural supporters.