{"id":2795,"date":"2025-06-11T15:21:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T15:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/?p=2795"},"modified":"2025-06-11T15:23:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T15:23:20","slug":"cambridge-under-fire-pakistans-parliament-slams-cie-over-exam-paper-leaks-delayed-inquiry-and-regulatory-evasion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2025\/06\/11\/cambridge-under-fire-pakistans-parliament-slams-cie-over-exam-paper-leaks-delayed-inquiry-and-regulatory-evasion\/","title":{"rendered":"Cambridge Under Fire: Pakistan\u2019s Parliament Slams CIE Over Exam Paper Leaks, Delayed Inquiry, and Regulatory Evasion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Islamabad (Nadeem Tanoli) <\/strong>A storm of criticism engulfed Cambridge International Education (CIE) during a pivotal session of the Pakistan National Assembly\u2019s Sub-Committee on Education, as lawmakers and regulators expressed growing alarm over repeated exam paper leaks, delayed inquiries, and the board\u2019s non-compliance with Pakistani legal frameworks.<\/p>\n

The scandal centers on the confirmed leak of AS & A Level examination papers, which triggered widespread distress among students and parents. Rather than offering a retest or pursuing accountability, Cambridge opted for \u201ccalculated assessment,\u201d assigning grades based on students’ performance in other papers. The decision, widely seen as opaque and academically unjustifiable, drew harsh condemnation. \u201cHow can a student\u2019s performance on one paper justify grades on another?\u201d asked MNA Ali Sarfraz, calling the approach both unfair and pedagogically flawed.\"\"<\/p>\n

The Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC), the statutory regulator for foreign examination boards under the IBCC Act of 2023, revealed that CIE failed to submit a formal inquiry report on the 2024 paper leak \u2014 despite repeated official communications and even judicial intervention by the Sindh High Court. \u201cUnder the Act of Parliament, we are the regulator. Cambridge continues to ignore our inquiries and has yet to submit last year\u2019s paper leakage report \u2014 which was supposed to be concluded within three months,\u201d stated IBCC CEO \/ Secretary Ghulam Ali Mallah.<\/p>\n

Cambridge\u2019s Country Director, Uzma Yousuf, faced intense scrutiny for withholding inquiry details during the committee meeting, citing media presence as a barrier. Her claim that such disclosures would be made in a future session without press coverage raised serious questions about transparency and institutional accountability.<\/p>\n

Further compounding concerns, the IBCC disclosed that over 400 new examination centers are expected to open under the “Independent Schools Program” next year \u2014 yet only 22 have formally submitted their data. This regulatory gap underscores a broader compliance failure. \u201cMany of our existing regulations have yet to be implemented,\u201d noted the IBCC chief, calling for immediate reforms.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers also raised the issue of Cambridge\u2019s steep and unregulated fee structure, with O Level papers reportedly costing PKR 30,000\u201335,000 per subject and A Level fees reaching PKR 50,000\u201360,000. The lack of standardized pricing has placed immense financial pressure on families. \u201cThere is no fee regulation in place yet, but this is clearly within our mandate,\u201d confirmed an IBCC representative.<\/p>\n

While Cambridge\u2019s official submission claims that it operates \u201cin close alignment\u201d with local laws and authorities, its\"\" continued refusal to directly engage with the IBCC \u2014 instead routing correspondence through the Ministry of Education \u2014 has eroded its credibility. Meanwhile, its characterization of confirmed leaks as \u201crare\u201d appears increasingly disingenuous in light of recurring security breaches and growing public mistrust.<\/p>\n

Sub-Committee Convener MNA Sabeen Ghauri recommended that Cambridge offer localized versions of its exams exclusively for Pakistani students, in order to prevent cross-border leak impacts from Zone IV countries. She also demanded a written guarantee that such incidents would not recur.<\/p>\n

With over 150,000 Pakistani students relying on Cambridge qualifications annually, the stakes are higher than ever. At the heart of the controversy are the 2024 and 2025 exam paper leakages \u2014 and the deeply flawed response that followed. \u201cCalculated assessment\u201d in lieu of proper exams has been condemned as unjust and inadequate.<\/p>\n

As the sub-committee moves toward issuing decisive recommendations, Cambridge faces mounting pressure to reform its operations in Pakistan and is expected to submit a full response by June 16, following a complete investigation into the leakages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Islamabad (Nadeem Tanoli) A storm of criticism engulfed Cambridge International Education (CIE) during a pivotal session of the Pakistan National Assembly\u2019s Sub-Committee on Education, as lawmakers and regulators expressed growing alarm over repeated exam paper leaks, delayed inquiries, and the board\u2019s non-compliance with Pakistani legal frameworks. The scandal centers on the confirmed leak of AS …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,94],"tags":[481],"class_list":["post-2795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-education","category-pakistan","tag-cambridge-ibcc-cie-leakages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2800,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795\/revisions\/2800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}