LAHORE, Nov 22: The Edexcel, the UK examination board, has decided to do away with O-Levels examination in Pakistan and replace it with IGCSEs as well as introducing new revised A-Levels fromSept 2009 and Sept 2008, respectively.

The IGCSEs (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) will be available in all the 16 subjects which are currently being offered at O-Levels. The subjects — Pakistan Studies and Islamiyat— will continue to be available to Pakistani students.

The Inter-Boards Committee of Chairmen (IBCC) has already recognised the IGCSEs qualification which is already available in a couple of institutions in Peshawar, IBCC secretary Muhammad Ramzan Acahakzai told Dawn.

The UK, from where the Edexcel operates, had abolished the O-Levels way back in 1988.

Edexcel’s Global Relationships Manager Dr David Davies, while speaking at Principal’s Forum in Lahore on Thursday, said the revised IGCSEs were modern qualifications that incorporated the best features of both GCE ‘O’ levels and IGCSEs. “We will create a new suite of IGCSEs that will update and replace the current qualifications that will help keep Edexcel learners at the leading edge of global qualification developments,” he added.

The Edexcel will shortly provide the hard copies of curricula, wide range of teaching guides and other resources available.

Textbooks and teaching material will be offered in 16 subjects - Biology, Physics, Chemistry, PE, Geography, History, Psychology, Sociology, Art and Design, Religious Studies, Music, General Studies, Drama, English Language, English Literature, English Language & Literature.

Dr Davies said the Edexcel would also provide revision support and examination practice through Exam Wizard CD-ROMs. It would also allow students to use past paper questions to make customized tests in minutes for appropriate subjects. The online revision support was also available at: www.examzone.co.uk.

He said the Edexcel endorsed quality material produced by other publishers as it was committed to offering its centres a choice and a variety of approaches to the delivery of Edexcel GCEs. He said the Edexcel was working with a range of publishers for preparing and marketing low-cost books.

Explaining criteria change, he said internal assessment (coursework) had been removed in many subjects and internal assessment would only be available where it was the only suitable method of assessment for that part of the specification. He said the Edexcel had applied tighter regulations to combat plagiarism.

He said the international centres would have examinations in place of coursework in biology, chemistry and physics.

Dr Davies said the Edexcel would also offer Higher National Diploma (HND), which was recognised by many universities in the UK. He said that those universities accepted students who had done their HND in the final year of a three-year relevant course.

The Edexcel’s Global Relationships Manager also explained new specifications and other value-added products such as `results analysis’ and `results plus’ being introduced by the Edexcel.

He also explained the establishment of Teacher Communities network and customer support for these new specifications that would be offered in Pakistan through British Council.