The admissions test results for 2025 at Pakistan’s top business institution, the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi, have exposed the weaknesses of the country’s intermediate education system.
According to official data, only 13 per cent of the students from various intermediate boards managed to pass the IBA undergraduate admissions test, while 34 per cent of A level students were successful.
Students from the Sindh Board of Technical Education had the lowest success rate at just four per cent, followed by students from the Ziauddin Board, Larkana Board, Peshawar Board and Quetta Board, each at eight per cent.
The Aga Khan Examination Board recorded an 18 per cent success rate, the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi 12 per cent, the Federal Board 15 per cent and the Hyderabad Board nine per cent.
The Mirpurkhas Board recorded an 11 per cent success rate, and both the Sukkur and Lahore boards 13 per cent. Students from the Mirpur Board of Azad Kashmir achieved only seven per cent success.
Among individual schools, the Karachi Grammar School led the list with a remarkable 60 per cent success rate, followed by the Lyceum School (47 per cent), the Nixor College (42 per cent), Beaconhouse (32 per cent), the City School (30 per cent) and the Lahore Grammar School (27 per cent).
The Foundation School recorded 22 per cent, the PECHS College 20 per cent, the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School 18 per cent, the Adamjee Science College and the Commecs College 17 per cent each, and the Habib Public School 16 per cent.
The Khatoon-e-Pakistan Government College and the Aitchison College each stood at 15 per cent. Students of the Army Public School & College achieved 14 per cent success. In total, 8,077 candidates took the admissions test, including 3,818 A level students and 4,259 intermediate students.
