ISLAMABAD: Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Thursday directed the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC) to shift the system of issuing equivalence certificates from manual to automation, during a meeting to discuss its overall functioning.

IBCC issues equivalence certificates for A-O level, International Baccalaureate Programmes, religious degrees and so on.

Parliamentary Secretary on Education Wajiha Akram, Federal Secretary Education Farah Hamid Khan and Additional Secretary Mohyuddin Wani visited IBCC for a briefing in this regard.

Talking to Dawn after the meeting, the minister said: “Today, I directed IBCC to also start issuing online equivalence and verification to facilitate students while IBCC’s management has also been directed to start Inter Board Academic Olympiads in addition to Inter Board Sports.”

IBCC Secretary Dr Ghulam Ali Mallah informed the minister and other visiting officers about functions, activities, priorities and future plans of the committee.

According to a press release issued by IBCC, the minister expressed interest towards making a uniform academic session from August 2021 and to conduct secondary and higher secondary examinations in May-June, like other countries of the world.

He also appreciated the idea of introducing Alternative to Practical (ATP) along with theory examinations of SSC and HSSC and suggested that multiple choice questions (MCQs) should be a part of exams and mode of conducting assessments should be technology-based. He said that standard examination should be conducted for students of middle school.

He said the ministry will provide training through Pakistan Institute of Education to officers and assessors of all boards to enhance their evaluation skills. He emphasised upon the need to minimise rote learning and upgrade the system of evaluation to promote analytical thinking and reasoning among students.

High achievers of the SSC and HSSC exams should be invited to Islamabad for a meeting with the president, he said.

Mr Mallah, while briefing the minister about various initiatives to automate all services said that that three lines for UAN have been installed.

Mr Mehmood said that the numbers of IT professionals must be provided to the committee for quick disposal of affairs and appreciated IBCC for introducing collection and delivery service for documents through courier.

“The minister has desired that in addition to the information of courier service to the applicants, a message should be sent from IBCC as well to give a sense of ownership of the documents to the students. IBCC may also obtain ISO Certification,” the press release added.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2020