The Inter Board Coordination Commission (IBCC) has approved a policy change allowing students with foreign qualifications who studied additional mathematics instead of biology, along with other required science subjects, to receive Science Group equivalence at the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) level.
Under the previous Scheme of Studies, such students were placed in the Arts Group, which restricted their options for pursuing intermediate level science or engineering programs.
IBCC Executive Director Dr Ghulam Ali Mallah said the decision was made to serve the best interests of students. He noted that excluding students from the Science Group due to not having studied biology created an unnecessary barrier for those aiming for pre engineering tracks.
Dr Mallah added that even high achieving students with more than 90 percent marks had been denied admission to the Science Group under the earlier policy.
With the new rules, students who opted for mathematics over biology at the SSC level will be eligible to apply for engineering and other science based programs in their first year of intermediate studies.