O Level, IGCSE exams to take place from May 10, Says Shafqat Mehmood

Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood confirmed on Monday that O level/IGCSE in Pakistan will be held from May 10 following consultations with Cambridge.

I had received a letter from Christine Ozden, CEO Cambridge requesting that O level/IGCSE exam should be allowed to start from May 10 instead of May 15," Mahmood said in a Twitter post this afternoon.

"After consultation with provinces/stakeholders we have agreed. Now O level/IGCSE will start from May 10," he added.

The minister, in his Twitter post, also cited a letter from Ozden, wherein the CEO Cambridge had said that the exam at the earlier date would "help us to enable many more students to progress and [that] their equivalence in the education system will be fairer."

Earlier today, while responding to a query on the micro-blogging website, Mahmood said that he had spoken to the Country Director Cambridge in Pakistan and that they will facilitate the process.

On March 25, after concerns by thousands of students, the minister said that Cambridge International had agreed to reschedule ‘O’ level exams to after May 15 amid an uptick in Covid-19 cases in the country.

However, he had said that "A" and "As" level exams will take place as per the original timetable, following all standard operation procedures (SOPs) against the novel coronavirus.

A total of about 90,000 students from all over Pakistan will participate in the A and O Level examinations for June 2021 series, in which about 50,000 will take part in the rescheduled O Level examinations.