Why is Cambridge education discouraged in Pakistan?

[SalmanPakRocks]

The O and A level students compete with other countries by topping in exams. But when they go for higher education in Pakistan they are told that they qualifications are up to the standard of local boards. Their marks are deducted and doubts are created in their minds about their academic credentials. When they can get admission in top educational institutions of the world with the same credentials why can't they get admissions here?

First of all there should be acceptance of foreign education system. If you are cutting down our marks that means you are not accepting it. The marks conversion formula is not fair. This is resulting in the fact that Cambridge students are unable to get admission in medical colleges. The entry test are based on FSc, which is also not fair. They are discouraging the A level students when they are not accepting their marks.

Discouraging the A level students is like destroying our own youth. This should end. Cutting down their marks will not improve the local system.

We demand separate merit list for A level students or start of quota system for them. We appeal to the government to look into the matter immediately.

Pakistani educational system devalue us inspite of the fact that we are more confident , educated and dedicated than pakistani students!

 

[aalmuhannadi]

The O and A level students compete with other countries by topping in exams. But when they go for higher education in Pakistan they are told that they qualifications are up to the standard of local boards. Their marks are deducted and doubts are created in their minds about their academic credentials. When they can get admission in top educational institutions of the world with the same credentials why can't they get admissions here?

First of all there should be acceptance of foreign education system. If you are cutting down our marks that means you are not accepting it. The marks conversion formula is not fair. This is resulting in the fact that Cambridge students are unable to get admission in medical colleges. The entry test are based on FSc, which is also not fair. They are discouraging the A level students when they are not accepting their marks.

Discouraging the A level students is like destroying our own youth. This should end. Cutting down their marks will not improve the local system.

We demand separate merit list for A level students or start of quota system for them. We appeal to the government to look into the matter immediately.

Pakistani educational system devalue us inspite of the fact that we are more confident , educated and dedicated than pakistani students!

Even though I'm not from Pakistan and never heard of such a system before, I'm supporting your argument. I don't think governments should be able to do such things as they end up hurting the country's general educational advancements. I mean what's wrong with Cambridge qualifications? If anything, they should be proud to have them there and such bright students excelling at difficult foreign qualifications as well. Still a weird system, I'm surprised..

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

Every universtiy students in Pakistan look up to, requires equivalence from 'IBCC' board of Pakistan which unfairly cuts many marks leaving the student with low percentage. This causes much trouble mostly to medical students who have to get admissions is Government Universities as private sector requires a large amount of fortune.

 

[alphabravocharlie]

The O and A level students compete with other countries by topping in exams. But when they go for higher education in Pakistan they are told that they qualifications are up to the standard of local boards. Their marks are deducted and doubts are created in their minds about their academic credentials. When they can get admission in top educational institutions of the world with the same credentials why can't they get admissions here?

First of all there should be acceptance of foreign education system. If you are cutting down our marks that means you are not accepting it. The marks conversion formula is not fair. This is resulting in the fact that Cambridge students are unable to get admission in medical colleges. The entry test are based on FSc, which is also not fair. They are discouraging the A level students when they are not accepting their marks.

Discouraging the A level students is like destroying our own youth. This should end. Cutting down their marks will not improve the local system.

We demand separate merit list for A level students or start of quota system for them. We appeal to the government to look into the matter immediately.

Pakistani educational system devalue us inspite of the fact that we are more confident , educated and dedicated than pakistani students!

And how do you plan on doing this?

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

And how do you plan on doing this?

Simple! By raising awareness to the government how much the students of Cambridge resent getting their grades converted into Pakistani board system. It's not just me, It's all of us, we can't just sit there and do nothing. Can we?

 

[unique840]

i am also against this system. thats too unfair.

 

[unique840]

we study 1 year more than the matric/inter students but still we are not given preference or even equality

 

[Ahmed Khider]

The O and A level students compete with other countries by topping in exams. But when they go for higher education in Pakistan they are told that they qualifications are up to the standard of local boards. Their marks are deducted and doubts are created in their minds about their academic credentials. When they can get admission in top educational institutions of the world with the same credentials why can't they get admissions here?

First of all there should be acceptance of foreign education system. If you are cutting down our marks that means you are not accepting it. The marks conversion formula is not fair. This is resulting in the fact that Cambridge students are unable to get admission in medical colleges. The entry test are based on FSc, which is also not fair. They are discouraging the A level students when they are not accepting their marks.

Discouraging the A level students is like destroying our own youth. This should end. Cutting down their marks will not improve the local system.

We demand separate merit list for A level students or start of quota system for them. We appeal to the government to look into the matter immediately.

Pakistani educational system devalue us inspite of the fact that we are more confident , educated and dedicated than pakistani students!

That doesnt happen only in Pakistan. Here in Sudan when u apply to certain Universities they deduct 10 marks from your overall mark just because You sat for an Igcse exam..They think this certificate is only for stupid people.

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

i am also against this system. thats too unfair.

I know, it's unfair to cut the marks without any reason and further, I believe that Education of England is far better than Pakistan, why not adopt a better thing from a country other than discouraging it's own people?

we study 1 year more than the matric/inter students but still we are not given preference or even equality

That's the criteria for International qualifications. That's the reason most Pakistani's fail to get admission in universities of England!

 

[Monster]

The O and A level students compete with other countries by topping in exams. But when they go for higher education in Pakistan they are told that they qualifications are up to the standard of local boards. Their marks are deducted and doubts are created in their minds about their academic credentials. When they can get admission in top educational institutions of the world with the same credentials why can't they get admissions here?

First of all there should be acceptance of foreign education system. If you are cutting down our marks that means you are not accepting it. The marks conversion formula is not fair. This is resulting in the fact that Cambridge students are unable to get admission in medical colleges. The entry test are based on FSc, which is also not fair. They are discouraging the A level students when they are not accepting their marks.

Discouraging the A level students is like destroying our own youth. This should end. Cutting down their marks will not improve the local system.

We demand separate merit list for A level students or start of quota system for them. We appeal to the government to look into the matter immediately.

Pakistani educational system devalue us inspite of the fact that we are more confident , educated and dedicated than pakistani students!

A very thought provoking topic and I totally agree with you except tht in a country like Pakistan we need a real lot of awareness tp present our point of view to the government!

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

A very thought provoking topic and I totally agree with you except tht in a country like Pakistan we need a real lot of awareness tp present our point of view to the government!

I'm already discussing this with people like 'Ali Moeen'. I think these people can spread awareness amongst the government officials.

 

[Silent Hunter]

so hows the progress going?

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

so hows the progress going?

For now it's best to spread the world before taking any practical step.

 

[OakMoon!]

First of all they don't cut your marks. The problem is that the percentage on the Cambridge certificates is actually percentile. The problem with HEC is that they can't use that percentile to award you the same raw marks as those taken by the FSC guys as they don't have the percentile system. How can you expect to get more than 90 marks in the equivalency for the A* when you didn't have that many marks for your actual CIE paper? Have you ever seen the grade threshold? You get As for as low as 60% marks. Isn't that unfair for the FSC people who have to get actual 90% to be equated as equals to you? Huh? I believe you never saw the other side. So now tell me how is it unfair? Now don't start about how our papers are more conceptual and stuff. Btw, the new MCAT is quite sound conceptually, eventhough, it is still based more or less on the fsc syllabus.
Secondly, let me put the entry test system with another perspective. Do you know that there are many times more FSC students giving the entry test as compared to A'levels students. For example if there are 1000 applicants from fsc, there will be 100 from A'levels. Out of these if the ratio is maintained, 100 will be accepted from fsc and similarly 10 will be selected from A'levels. The low number of seats are due to the low number of applicants. But it seems absurd to us because the number is too low. This is just a theory. I know that A'levels guys are actually at a disadvantage. I'm in a similar situation.
Thirdly, let me tell you that you can't avoid the FSC stuff. Nobody cares if you are more confident or you have better concepts. Because even the Government medical universities of Pakistan have a curriculum that is based on fsc stuff. There are less concepts and more rote learning. So studying fsc stuff is essential before you enter the university. If you want concepts and personality building then go for private universities. Yes, it is a financial burden but so was private schooling and CIE exams.
The only possible solution is a separate merit and reserved seats for those with foreign qualifications.

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

First of all they don't cut your marks. The problem is that the percentage on the Cambridge certificates is actually percentile. The problem with HEC is that they can't use that percentile to award you the same raw marks as those taken by the FSC guys as they don't have the percentile system. How can you expect to get more than 90 marks in the equivalency for the A* when you didn't have that many marks for your actual CIE paper? Have you ever seen the grade threshold? You get As for as low as 60% marks. Isn't that unfair for the FSC people who have to get actual 90% to be equated as equals to you? Huh? I believe you never saw the other side. So now tell me how is it unfair? Now don't start about how our papers are more conceptual and stuff. Btw, the new MCAT is quite sound conceptually, eventhough, it is still based more or less on the fsc syllabus.
Secondly, let me put the entry test system with another perspective. Do you know that there are many times more FSC students giving the entry test as compared to A'levels students. For example if there are 1000 applicants from fsc, there will be 100 from A'levels. Out of these if the ratio is maintained, 100 will be accepted from fsc and similarly 10 will be selected from A'levels. The low number of seats are due to the low number of applicants. But it seems absurd to us because the number is too low. This is just a theory. I know that A'levels guys are actually at a disadvantage. I'm in a similar situation.
Thirdly, let me remind you that you can't change the FSC stuff. Nobody cares if you are more confident or you have better concepts. Because even the Government medical universities of Pakistan have a curriculum that is based on fsc stuff. There are less concepts and more rote learning. So studying fsc stuff is essential before you enter the university. If you want concepts and personality building then go for private universities. Yes, it is a financial burden but so was private schooling and CIE exams.
The only possible solution is a separate merit and reserved seats for those with foreign qualifications.

I completely agree with your first point, I guess I never saw the other side.
I kinda disagree with your second point, being in minority doesn't mean taking away the rights, It's nearly impossible for many to study FSc syllabus after doing their A levels. What is the use for doing A levels then? Government should learn to encourage and appreciate more. Let's take an example of India before the partition. Muslims were always in minority but they demanded the rights, similarly we want such rights, even if the ration is between 1000: 1, I believe there should be some special consideration given to those candidates. I appreciated what Aga Khan College in Karachi did for O level students, they took separate entry test for O level students based on CIE syllabus.
Well I believe it's hard to change it but we can at least show that we resent this.

 

[OakMoon!]

Hahaha! Rights? Why should government encourage more people to take up foreign qualifications? Don't you think it is unfair for those who can't pay for the CIE exams? Don't they have rights? If you have a problem paying for private institutions then those from government schools have a problem paying for CIEs. The private institutions were created for those from private schools. And the government institutions were created for those from government schools. And who the hell told you that AKU has a separate test for A'levels? It was the same test and we, A'level students didn't have a clue about 40% of the science questions.

 

[TSZ]

ummmm....guys, do u knw that federal gov. skuls are starting o and a-lvlz .....i guess we cn expect a change soon

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

Hahaha! Rights? Why should government encourage more people to take up foreign qualifications? Don't you think it is unfair for those who can't pay for the CIE exams? Don't they have rights? If you have a problem paying for private institutions then those from government schools have a problem paying for CIEs. The private institutions were created for those from private schools. And the government institutions were created for those from government schools. And who the hell told you that AKU has a separate test for A'levels? It was the same test and we, A'level students didn't have a clue about 40% of the science questions.

Why should it not? It's better than Pakistan's qualifications! :S I'm not critizing the education of Pakistan but rather the government for not giving rights to A level candidates. And I was talking about the College, not the university. It had seperate test for O level candidate, similar kind of program could be launched in all universities for betterment of A level candidates.

 

[OakMoon!]

In one way or another, you are criticizing the education of Pakistan. And like I told you, private institutions were created to cater your rights. AKU accepts alot of A'levels students. The reason why you don't get into KE and other government unis is because they have a system based on fsc education and the reason you get into AKU is because it is more or less based on A'levels system that is problem based and conceptual learning. A teacher from FSC himself told me that FSC is crap and concept-less, yet he teaches it because there is similar teaching in the government universities and avoiding fsc system is not possible. I hope you get my point.

 

[linkinpark]

The O and A level students compete with other countries by topping in exams. But when they go for higher education in Pakistan they are told that they qualifications are up to the standard of local boards. Their marks are deducted and doubts are created in their minds about their academic credentials. When they can get admission in top educational institutions of the world with the same credentials why can't they get admissions here?

First of all there should be acceptance of foreign education system. If you are cutting down our marks that means you are not accepting it. The marks conversion formula is not fair. This is resulting in the fact that Cambridge students are unable to get admission in medical colleges. The entry test are based on FSc, which is also not fair. They are discouraging the A level students when they are not accepting their marks.

Discouraging the A level students is like destroying our own youth. This should end. Cutting down their marks will not improve the local system.

We demand separate merit list for A level students or start of quota system for them. We appeal to the government to look into the matter immediately.

Pakistani educational system devalue us inspite of the fact that we are more confident , educated and dedicated than pakistani students!

I totally agree with you
You can also judge the degree of unfairness from that document which I gave you ... It was also our government's decision with that IBCC !!!!