A Level Students will face difficulty getting into Public Universities due to Government’s decisions amid COVID-19.

The A Level students will find it more difficult to join public universities this year in Pakistan as FSC students are receiving grade marks based upon their 11th year exam grades, whilst A level students have neither been given any leeway nor have much control over the outcome of their grades as many have opted for expected grades due to cancellation of May/June 2020 exams.

A Level students already had to face difficulty while competing for seats in public universities especially in medical and engineering universities as their marks were deducted due to the IBCC equivalence procedure, but this time this deduction will pale in comparison to the increase in marks every FSC student will get this year.

As a result, A level students are being neglected which puts them behind in the fight for gaining entry into many public universities. It is important that either the grace marks be adjusted, or proportional seats be assigned to A level students in public universities. Or the scale for equivalency be reevaluated to place everyone on fair ground since the entry test is primarily based on FSc syllabus.

These grace marks awarded to FSC students will also unfairly increase the threshold when 990/1100 is the absolute highest A level students can obtain after equivalence done by IBCC.. Hence, quick action must be taken by the Ministry of Education to address this disadvantage to all of the students studying A Level and aiming to join public universities this academic year. Teachers, Parents and school administration must work together to bring this issue into the notice of the government. Each student whether doing FSC or A Levels deserve an equal fundamental right and opportunity to study at any of the public universities in Pakistan.

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This article is written by Aysha Zulfiqar (Twitter @ayshaz11), an A Level student from Islamabad, Pakistan.