Explainer: Which subjects' exams will matric, inter students take?

The federal and provincial governments have decided to conduct examinations only for elective subjects at the matriculation and intermediate levels. 

In this regard, the Head of the Inter-board Committee of Chairmen Sindh Dr Saeed Uddin said that all preparations for the examinations have been completed.

In line with the decision of the federal government, no student will be promoted without examination this year. It has been decided that students will be assessed on the basis of optional subjects only owing to the prevailing coronavirus situation and the corresponding suspension of education.

According to Dr Saeed Uddin, a notification regarding optional subjects will be issued soon.

Talking to Geo News, Dr Saeed-ud-Din said that matriculation science students will take the physics and maths exams, while the optional subjects for the general group students will be announced soon.

He said that students of the grade 12 engineering group will appear in physics, chemistry, and mathematics exams, while grade 12 pre-medical group students will appear in physics, chemistry, and biology. 

Meanwhile, grade 12 students of the general science group will appear in computer science, economics, statistics exams. 

As for grade 12 students of the commerce group, exams will be conducted for the principals of commerce, statistics, and business.

On the other hand, Chairman Technical Board Dr Masroor Sheikh said that students of the technical board will have to take optional subjects in technology but exams for compulsory subjects like Urdu, Islamic Studies, and English, etc., will not be conducted. 

A day ago, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood had announced that students of matric and ninth across the country would be assessed on the basis of elective subjects and math this year.

The minister, explaining the decision during a press conference in Islamabad, said only four exams, including math for ninth and matric, will be conducted. These include biology, computer science, physics, and chemistry.

No student would be awarded grades without attempting examinations this year, the education minister stressed, adding: "If we do not conduct the exams, then students will not even employ minimum efforts to study."

According to the education ministry, Mehmood's press conference came after he chaired a meeting of the provincial education ministers and officials from the education departments.

The minister said the exams of elective subjects will be conducted as students aspiring to opt for a selected field could be assessed on the basis of their elective subjects.

The education minister said boards were preparing to conduct exams from June 24, and now, to facilitate students, we have asked them to begin examinations after July 10.

"We have also asked boards to keep some gap between the exams," he said, as he explained the government had taken several steps to ease the process on the students as the educational institutions could not complete the course work.

The education minister said exams of classes 10 and 12 would be conducted first — from July 10 — and the examinations of classes 9 and 11 will be conducted once they end.