IBCC outsources collection, delivery of A and O level documents amid Covid second wave

All five IBCC centres, including Karachi, will be closed to students seeking equivalence certificates

KARACHI:

The Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC), the body that certifies credentials of foreign and international education boards including A and O levels, has temporarily closed its branch offices in Pakistan in wake of the risk associated with the second wave of novel coronavirus.

As an alternative, the IBCC has signed an agreement with TCS under which the latter will collect and deliver all educational documents for O and A level students. The initiative has been taken to suspend the excessive flow of students to the IBCC centres of the country, including Karachi.

Under the alternative system, the students have been asked to visit TCS centres for submitting applications for verification of their foreign educational credential and issuance of equivalence certificates.

The decision was taken with a view to continue the process of verification of academic credentials of students with foreign and international certificates while also implementing the SOPs for the second wave of coronavirus.

The IBCC-TCS partnership will allow the process to continue without any interruption as well as eliminate the intense number of students who have been flocking to the IBCC branches.

After the announcement of the Cambridge results, the students rushed to all the five centres of IBCC in the country, especially in Karachi, where hundreds of students were gathering daily for verification and equivalence of their credentials.

Under the agreement, students will no longer need to visit the IBCC centre or go to the bank to pay their fees. Rather, the application form for equivalence of certificates along with the relevant documents and fees will be submitted at the TCS office from where the student parcels will be sent to the centre concerned and after verification, equivalence certificate will be mailed to the students through the TCS services.

The IBCC currently has five branches – one each in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and Bahawalpur – besides the head office in Islamabad. The body operates under the Federal Ministry of Education.

Since Karachi has the highest number of schools affiliated with the Cambridge board, most of students flocked to the IBCC centre, causing immense rush.

When contacted by The Express Tribune, IBCC Secretary Dr Ghulam Ali Mallah confirmed the development, saying the IBCC branches across the country have been closed for students since Wednesday.

He said that on the instructions of Federal Minister for Education and Vocational Training Shafqat Mahmood, IBCC decided to provide document verification and other facilities to the students and their parents without hassle and with a view to protect them from the risk of coronavirus.

"An agreement has been signed with TCS Express under which the process of providing facilities to students under one roof will start in any TCS centre in Pakistan and students will be able to deposit fees at the centre instead of going to the bank," the IBCC secretary said, adding that fees and applications along with relevant documents can be submitted at any of the 850 TCS centres in more than 380 cities and towns across Pakistan.

Dr Ghulam Mallah said that the students applying will be able to get up to date information about their applications and their status from the time of submission of documents to the time of delivery.

He further said that the IBCC and TCS have constructed a process flow with which the students and parents will be kept abreast about the status of the applications.