The honorable Shaykh, I am a teacher in one of the schools. Is it permissible for me to give a student a grade for his good character, by giving him a grade other than the grade on the exam paper?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : He says: The honorable Shaykh, I am a teacher in one of the schools. Is it permissible for me to give a student a grade for his good character, by giving him a grade other than the grade on the exam paper, either in the annual work or otherwise, or to overlook the strictness regarding his mistakes on the exam paper, unlike the bad student, whether bad in character or otherwise, for whom I am more strict? Is my action correct?
The Shaykh : The action is not correct. It is obligatory to give every person what he deserves in terms of the answer, unless you suspect that this student is cheating, because sometimes you find two answers that are exactly the same, other than the wording of the book, and it occurs to you that one of them is cheating from the other. In this case, investigation and scrutiny are necessary. However, merely knowing that this student is bad in character and deducting from his grade, or that this student is good in character and adding to his grade, this is not permissible, because grades are not based on character, but on the answer. As for the annual work, if the reference for it is the teacher, and good character and manners have a share in these grades, then at that time, I deduct from the annual work of the one who is bad in character, and I add to it for the one who is good in character, if it is part of the system that good character has an effect on the grades of the annual work. Then I have the right to reduce the grades of the one I know to be bad in character, and to increase the grades of the one I know to be good in character, because it is entrusted to me, and the person, I mean the teacher, is responsible for it. Yes.
The Shaykh : The action is not correct. It is obligatory to give every person what he deserves in terms of the answer, unless you suspect that this student is cheating, because sometimes you find two answers that are exactly the same, other than the wording of the book, and it occurs to you that one of them is cheating from the other. In this case, investigation and scrutiny are necessary. However, merely knowing that this student is bad in character and deducting from his grade, or that this student is good in character and adding to his grade, this is not permissible, because grades are not based on character, but on the answer. As for the annual work, if the reference for it is the teacher, and good character and manners have a share in these grades, then at that time, I deduct from the annual work of the one who is bad in character, and I add to it for the one who is good in character, if it is part of the system that good character has an effect on the grades of the annual work. Then I have the right to reduce the grades of the one I know to be bad in character, and to increase the grades of the one I know to be good in character, because it is entrusted to me, and the person, I mean the teacher, is responsible for it. Yes.