The British Council has announced that A-Level students in Pakistan will have the opportunity to retake their exams free of charge after protests disrupted the May exams. This decision was made in response to complaints from students about unsatisfactory results.
Last week, approximately 45,000 Pakistani students received their Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) AS and A-Level results and were left disappointed with the outcomes. Many students received low grades, with a majority receiving Cs, Ds, Es, and Us. These results were due to the predicted grades awarded by CIE for the days when the exams were cancelled due to protests following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in May.
The dissatisfaction with the grading system led to calls from Maryam Nawaz, PML-N chief organiser, for a review of this year’s results. In response, the Institute of Business Administration revised its admission criteria for students who took their exams in the May/June series.
To address the concerns of students, a meeting was held at the Education Ministry, attended by Cambridge International Country Director for Pakistan Uzma Yousuf and heads of private schools. Following the meeting, the Federal Education and Professional Training Ministry secretary announced on social media that a retake exam would be available in the October/November series. Students will have the opportunity to retake subjects/components that they missed due to the law and order situation in May.
The retake exams will be conducted by Cambridge and will be free of charge. The British Council will provide a reduced-cost plan for logistics. For cases where a significant difference is found between school assessed grades and Cambridge assessment grades, individual re-evaluation and re-assessment will be carried out.
The schools will be responsible for submitting requests for re-evaluation and re-assessment to Cambridge, with 80% of the cost borne by the schools and 20% by the parents. If grades are changed as a result of this process, the entire fee will be reimbursed.
In addition, the education ministry will hold meetings with university vice-chancellors to provide flexibility in admissions and coordinate with provincial governments to implement similar measures. A complaints redressal mechanism is also being established under the Private Institution Education Regulatory Authority (PIERA) to address unresolved complaints.
This decision by the British Council aims to address the concerns of Pakistani A-Level students and ensure fairness in the grading process.