Purpose
Fairness in assessment is more than rubrics and scores it is about whether students feel seen, understood, and treated with respect. In culturally diverse classrooms, what feels fair to one student may feel confusing or even unjust to another. This study explored how medical students in India experience fairness in assessment, particularly when their cultural background influences how they interpret feedback, authority, and expectations.

Methods
A narrative inquiry approach was used with twenty four final year medical students. Participants shared personal stories of assessment moments that felt fair, unfair, or confusing across written tests, practical exams, and faculty interactions. Storytelling interviews were followed by informal follow ups for deeper reflection. Data were analyzed to identify narrative threads, values, and moments that shaped students’ sense of fairness and trust in the system.

Results
Student stories revealed that fairness was not just about marks, but about how feedback was given, whether expectations were clearly communicated, and whether cultural differences were acknowledged. Some students felt disadvantaged when norms of communication or expression were misread by assessors. Others described moments of deep validation when faculty took time to explain, support, or check for understanding. A key pattern was that students felt assessment was fair when it felt personal, transparent, and respectful especially when language, background, or learning style differed from the majority.

Conclusion
Assessment fairness lives in the small moments how a viva is conducted, how a mistake is handled, how feedback is phrased. For culturally diverse classrooms, fairness cannot be assumed from structure alone. Educators must pay attention to student voice, cultural nuance, and communication style if we are to build assessment systems that are truly just, inclusive, and trusted by all learners.