International Education Guide - Enterprise and Advanced Education ...

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION GUIDE for the assessment of education from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
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Various examining boards may offer other course groups
in addition to those listed in the national curriculum.
Examples include the nursing group, the agricultural group
and the military science group.
Composite and Partwise Examinations
Depending on the year and the examining board, the
Higher Secondary Certificate examination may be either
composite or partwise.
• The HSC composite examination is conducted at the
end of Grade 12.
• The HSC (partwise or part system) examination is
conducted in two parts, one at the end of Grade 11 (HSC
Part I) and one at the end of Grade 12 (HSC Part II).
Table 19 shows the allocation of marks to subjects in Part I
and Part II of the partwise HSC examination (pre-medical)
conducted by the Aga Khan University Examination Board.
Higher Secondary Certificate or
Intermediate Examination Certificate
The minimum mark for passing each subject is 33 per
cent. The certificate usually indicates the chosen course
group, the total marks obtained for all subjects and the
corresponding letter grade. A student who fails one or two
papers may repeat those subjects in “compartmental exams”
conducted in the same year. A student who fails more than
two papers is required to repeat all subjects the following
year. It is also a common practice to give “grace marks” to
students who fail one or two papers by a few percentage
points, to allow them to pass the examination.
Teaching at higher secondary schools officially requires
possession of a Master of Education or MA (Education).
2006 Curriculum
In 2006 the Ministry of Education announced a new
national curriculum for Grades 1 to 12, to be adopted
across the school system over a period of three years,
starting in 2007. It was first introduced in that year in
Grades 1, 6, 9 and 11. The new curriculum and course
syllabi are available on the Ministry of Education website.
Some of the changes to the previous (2000) curriculum
include:
• an increase in school days from 170 to 210
• provision of a scheme of studies for early childhood
education for children aged 4 to 5
• teaching of Urdu and English from Grade 1 as
compulsory subjects
• introduction of a few compulsory subjects for middle
school (Grades 6 to 8), including computer literacy,
geography and history
• provision of a five-year period for schools to adopt
English as the language of instruction for selected
subjects, including mathematics, science and
computer literacy
• provision of the option for non-Muslims to study ethics
instead of Islamiat in all grades
After passing the examination, students receive
the Higher Secondary Certificate or Intermediate
Examination Certificate, which is the prerequisite for
entry into university undergraduate study. In addition to
the HSC, students also receive a detailed marks sheet.
The format of the HSC and marks sheet varies by issuing
board and time period.