ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s Inter Boards Coordination Commission is moving to scrap rigid subject-group labels at the secondary and intermediate levels and steer universities toward admissions based on the individual subjects a student has passed, officials said after a Dec. 23 consultative meeting. The proposed IBCC reforms would replace broad labels like pre-medical and pre-engineering with subject prerequisites set by universities and regulators, while a working group drafts the details, Jan. 4, 2026.
IBCC, the federal coordinating body for secondary and higher secondary education boards, was reconstituted in April 2023 under the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, according to IBCC’s official background. Its latest consultations target a long-criticized system in which students are boxed into fixed “groups” that can limit mobility between disciplines and complicate equivalence for foreign qualifications.
IBCC reforms push Pakistan toward subject-based admissions
At the Dec. 23 forum, IBCC Executive Director Dr. Ghulam Ali Mallah highlighted cases where students complete most science subjects but still receive equivalence under humanities, a mismatch that can block them from science-linked degree programs. A national joint working group has been set up to develop recommendations for the next consultative meeting, according to an Associated Press of Pakistan report.
A separate account of the meeting said stakeholders recommended eliminating rigid group labels such as engineering and medical and shifting to a pathway where universities decide admissions based on the subjects a student has actually passed rather than predefined groups, Dawn reported. Supporters of IBCC reforms argue the approach would better reflect students’ coursework — and reduce cases where a single missing paper changes an entire eligibility category.
What the IBCC reforms could change for SSC and HSSC students
If the framework is adopted, the biggest change would come at the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) level, where the consultative forum recommended eliminating subject groups because universities and regulators “do not require rigid group classifications for admissions,” APP reported. Instead, admissions would hinge on published prerequisites — for example, mathematics for engineering-linked programs or biology for health sciences — rather than the title of a group a student was placed in.
At the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) level, participants also recommended reviewing qualification groupings to make them “more open and flexible” for college admissions and examining whether academic and vocational routes should be separated or blended by including additional skill-based subjects.
Intermediate groupings are in the crosshairs
The intermediate-level reforms are still being drafted, but the commission has signaled it wants to move beyond long-standing tracks such as pre-engineering, pre-medical, commerce and humanities. “The next step is to eliminate rigid groupings at intermediate level,” Mallah said, according to The News, which reported another meeting is expected next month to finalize the framework.
Some IBCC reforms are already being implemented. In December, the commission notified a policy allowing students with an arts background in matric to register for pre-medical and pre-engineering at the intermediate stage starting with the first annual examinations of 2026, while allowing boards and institutions to set minimum marks, merit thresholds or placement tests to maintain standards, another Dawn report said.
How these IBCC reforms fit into a longer push for mobility
The latest IBCC reforms extend a yearslong effort to make admissions and equivalence more comparable across systems. In 2021, the IBCC moved to revise how O/A level A* grades are converted into Pakistani marks — a shift aimed at improving competitiveness for students applying to high-stakes programs — as detailed in Dawn’s 2021 report on the A* equivalence formula.
That same year, the International Baccalaureate said the IBCC agreed to adjust conversion marks so top IB Diploma results could align more closely with high board scores during the pandemic, according to an International Baccalaureate update from 2021. In 2023, the organization reported the IBCC approved equivalence for the IB Career-related Programme as comparable to HSSC science subjects, a decision it said could widen access to medical and engineering universities in Pakistan, according to its 2023 announcement.
Even if IBCC reforms on subject groupings advance quickly, the shift will depend on universities clearly publishing subject prerequisites, boards updating registration rules, and consistent guidance for students choosing nontraditional combinations. For now, IBCC reforms remain proposals under consultation, with the working group expected to return with recommendations and an implementation roadmap in the coming weeks.
