British Council to hold special O Level exams from July 26 to Aug 5: Shafqat Mehmood

• Shafqat Mehmood says approval of conducting exams will help O level students to start A level or FA/Fsc from Sept.
• Federal education minister says such an exam in July is unprecedented and he's happy that Cambridge is arranging it.
• Shafqat Mehmood says the government is taking difficult decisions to ensure that education and learning of students continues.

Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood announced on Thursday that the government has issued a no-objection certificate to the British Council to hold special O Level exams from July 26 till August 6. 

"We issued an NOC today to British Council allowing it to hold special O level exams from July 26 to August 6," tweeted the minister along with the notification.

Mehmood said that the move will "facilitate O level students to start A level or FA/Fsc from September" this year, so as not to waste a year. 

"This kind of exam in July is unprecedented and I am happy that Cambridge is arranging it," the federal minister wrote.

The notification issued by the minister said that the NOC was issued after a letter was sent by the British Council with the request.

Read more: No exams until June 15 due to rising coronavirus cases, says Shafqat Mehmood

"British Council is fully authorized to conduct mini exams series from 26 July, 2021 to 6 August, 2021 subject to all approved/notified COVID-19 SOPs," reads the NOC. 

After making the announcement about the NOC, the minister issued a separate tweet saying that the coronavirus pandemic has "created immense difficulties in all walks of life but specially in education".

Mehmood said that the government is taking difficult decisions to ensure that education and learning of students continues. 

"Every decision has pros and cons but for us the interest and welfare of students is always paramount," emphasised the education minister.

The O Level exams were scheduled to take place this month but were delayed after a spike in coronavirus cases was seen across the country. 

Last month, Shafqat Mehmood had said that O level exams will be held in the October and November cycle and the same will be the case for A and AS level exams.

Read more: Exams for classes 10, 12 to be held after June 20

"Those students who wish to seek admission in Pakistani universities will be able to do so until January as the government will take the universities on board in this regard," the minister said.

He, however, said students of A2 must appear in the examination right now, as deferment would lead to a wasted year.

"In this regard, the government has issued directives that no exam venue will have more than 50 people [to maintain adequate social distancing]."

"Yesterday, we saw that some Cambridge exam centres violated the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs)," he said. "Therefore, from Monday onwards, the government will ensure the deployment of law enforcement agencies outside of the exam centres to ensure compliance with the SOPs."

Read more: Shafqat Mehmood dispels rumours about cancellation of class 9, 11 exams

At the end of the press conference, Shafqat Mehmood stressed that [irrespective of everything] exams are very important for students because they work hard throughout the year.

"All the education ministers unanimously decided that no promotions can be granted without exams, but for the sake of facilitating student [in times of crisis] the exams will be held in the October/ November session or after June/ July [in case of local students]," Mehmood said.

The Cambridge examinations had started on April 26 amid strong calls from the students and their parents to cancel exams considering the worsening COVID-19 situation in the country.

Minister Shafqat Mehmood had said that the permission to hold exams was conditional on strict SOP observance.