Pre-medical students wanting to shift to pre-engineering concerned about exams policy.

Byline: Kashif Abbasi

ISLAMABAD -- Students who passed their pre-medical FSc examination last year but were not admitted to medical colleges because of the level of competition have not found their issue addressed in the exams policy announced in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

These students received more than 80pc in their exams, but were not able to gain admission to medical colleges as they had planned. They registered themselves with the boards to sit additional mathematics exams this April so they could move from pre-medical to pre-engineering.

Since these exams were cancelled due to the pandemic, the government decided these students could instead take special exams between September and November, because of which they will not be able to gain admission into engineering universities this year.

'We are upset. We have no idea what our fate will be and we are facing an axe to our careers as the new policy has not specifically covered our issue,' said a student who scored 90pc in last year's pre-medical exam and intended to appear in the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education's (FBISE) exams maths exam.

Say making them sit special exams in Sept to Nov would lose them a year as engineering institutions would have already closed admissions

Sources in the FBISE said that almost 200 students registered to appear in additional maths papers this year, who had also registered to move from pre-medical to pre-engineering.

'Now the future of all these students is at stake as we are going to hold the exams between September and November, by which time admissions in engineering universities will be closed,' an FBISE official said.

The students said that according to a new policy announced by Minister for Federal Education Shafqat Mehmood for the board examinations, 11th grade students will be marked on their previous performance with 3pc additional markets for six papers they have not attempted yet, but additional mathematics students have been asked to sit a special exam to be held in September 2020.

'If the 11th grade students can be granted marks in six papers without exams, why not additional maths students in two papers on the basis of their previous score or performance? Specifically when they have passed the full FSc pre-medical and are even more qualified that 11th grade students,' one student asked.

He said that offering a special exam in September would be fruitless.

'When...