Students stressed out, upset and exhausted by the earthquake should be given the option of sitting their NCEA exams again, Labour says.
Leader Andrew Little says many got little or no sleep the night before their exams, and should be given another chance.
"There were also students who couldn't sit the exams at all and so missed out on the opportunity to get a higher first grade."
His comments come after students petitioned NZQA for allowances after the disrupted earthquake period.
The petition currently has more than 5000 signatures.
After Monday's magnitude 7.8 earthquake, NZQA decided students at schools that had to be closed would be given emergency-derived grades and judged on their year's work.
Post-Primary Teachers' Association president Angela Roberts told Paul Henry on Tuesday chaos reigned for students across the country following the earthquake.
"There were massive problems with communication, there was confusion - not entirely [NZQA's] fault, social media can get away on you very quickly, one misinformed tweet can really baffle people."
In Parliament, Education Minister Hekia Parata said 48,500 students were sitting exams and around 13,500 could have been affected by the earthquake.
She said NZQA didn't want to put all students at a disadvantage by cancelling the exams when it had a process for dealing with those who couldn't sit them.
Newshub.
