O-Level, IGCSEs exams rescheduled

LAHORE: In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic related restrictions, the Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) Pakistan Thursday announced rescheduling of the O-Level and IGCSEs exams for May 15, 2021.

Earlier, these exams were scheduled to commence from April 26, 2020. However, AS and A-Levels exams would go ahead as per already announced timetable, commencing in May. An estimated number of 50,000 candidates would appear in O-Level /IGCSE and about 40,000 in AS/A-Level exams across Pakistan.

“We are pleased to announce that with the help of the government of Pakistan, we will be holding all Cambridge International AS & A-Levels as timetabled, so that students can progress to the next stage of their education.

“We agreed with the government that we will only hold exams in Pakistan from 15 May for Cambridge O-Level and IGCSE exams. We are now looking urgently at how best to make this work. We will not switch to school-assessed grades,” said a CAIE spokesperson and added that schools would be updated with more information the next week.

Federal Minister for Education & Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood said in a tweet that after detailed discussions, Cambridge agreed to reschedule ‘O-Level exams. “However, ‘A’ and ‘As’ level exams will take place as per the original timetable, following all the SOPs,’ he wrote.

However, the development was not welcomed by A-level students who took to the social media to express their concerns in this regard. Most of the aggrieved students pointed out that A-level syllabus was more hard and lengthy as compared to O-level and the government really “lost” on that front by failing to convince Cambridge to delay A-level exams.

A number of students said that because of Covid-19 related closures and restrictions, they were not able to cover A-level syllabus for the exams.

Similarly, students preparing for local board exams also reacted to the minister’s tweet demanding that board exams (for Matric and Intermediate) should also be postponed. The government has already announced conducting the board exams in May and June 2021.