ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Tuesday directed that all foreign boards should operate under the regulatory framework of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Inter-Board Coordination Commission (IBCC).

A subcommittee of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education met at IBCC with MNA Sabheen Ghoury in the chair and discussed the issue of recent paper leak of O/A Level exam.

The committee showed its concerns over the leak of question papers of the exam conducted by Cambridge Assessment International Education (CIE).

A CIE official told the committee that three partial papers were leaked and affected students would be given compensated grade. The committee was also told that students who appeared in the three papers had the option of retaking the papers in November without paying any fee.

The committee directed that in case of any paper leak in future, a third-party investigation would be carried out. During the meeting, the issue of tax was also discussed and the British Council informed the committee that the CIE exams were held in Pakistan under a general government-to-government framework.

IBCC Executive Director Dr Ghulam Ali Mallah said that soon IBCC will call a meeting of all foreign boards to finalise a strategy and framework. He said IBCC was entrusted with the standardisation and regulation of academic assessment practices across Pakistan and it was mandated to develop and promote national and international linkage.

“We have already sent a letter to foreign boards for upcoming meeting,” he told the committee.

In its official statement issued on June 30, Cambridge University stated: “Update about June 2025 question paper leak allegations in Pakistan.We are now sharing further details about the support available for students who sat one or more of the three affected papers: Cambridge International AS & A Level Mathematics Paper 12, Cambridge International AS & A Level Mathematics Paper 42, and Cambridge International AS & A Level Computer Science Paper 22.

The results for these syllabuses will be released as normal. To support affected students, we are offering free syllabus entry resits in the upcoming November 2025 exam series for candidates who sat one or more of the three affected papers in the June 2025 exam series. Resits are optional, and we will share further information with schools on how to make resit entries for these syllabuses after we release results for the June 2025 exam series. Private candidates will receive guidance from the British Council on how to submit their entries.“

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2025