Newspaper headlines: 'A-levels overhaul' and 'Williamson in danger'
PA MediaMost of Wednesday's front pages express alarm at the widening gap between state and private schools shown in Tuesday's A-level results.
The Guardian says the gap has grown to its widest in the modern era, with 70% of students in independent schools receiving A or A* - while only around 40% of pupils in state schools managed the same.
Campaigners quoted in the Daily Mail say the grades are a reflection of how inequalities have been compounded by the pandemic.
There's also concern about grade inflation after nearly 45 per cent of all students received A and A*. Before the pandemic, in 2019, the proportion was less than 26%.
The i paper, the Times and the Daily Telegraph report that one idea being considered as a solution is to scrap the alphabetical grades - from A to E - and replace them with numbers.
The Times says it has learned that the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is likely to be replaced by the Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch.
According to the article Mr Williamson - who ran Boris Johnson's leadership campaign - is fighting to avoid being axed from the cabinet entirely.
But the paper says the former chief whip has told colleagues that he "knows where the bodies are" and would be a dangerous enemy to have on the backbenches.
Afghan horror
One of the Guardian's front page stories is written by an unnamed 22-year-old female journalist who is on the run in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured her city in the north of the country.
She describes fleeing, wearing a burqa, in a car with her uncle, and also on foot to avoid Taliban check points. She says she is scared because the militants are forcing families to give their daughters as wives for their fighters.
Several papers report that Prince Andrew has joined the Queen at Balmoral Castle a day after an American woman, Victoria Giuffre, sued him in New York claiming she was forced to have sex with him when she was under age, which he denies.
The Mail says the civil case could drag on for years and become a millstone around his - and the Royal Family's - neck.
There is chaos on the Strictly dancefloor, claims The Sun, which reports the new series of the BBC One show could be delayed after one of the participants - professional dancer Nadya Bychkova - tested positive for coronavirus. Many of the cast and crew cannot keep dancing but must now self-isolate for 10 days.
