1 October 2020
On behalf of Exams Director, Jim O’Neill
Dear Partner Schools and Private candidates
I hope you are all keeping safe and well. Please FWD the message below to relevant staff and all affected students/parents.
British Council and Cambridge International have worked hard to meet the needs of partner schools despite the very unfortunate cancellation of exams in 2020. You will appreciate we are not in full control of the situation during a pandemic but we have always tried to do whatever we can to support and to bring updates as quickly as possible.
Earlier this week we announced the positive news that a March 2021 series will be available in Nepal.
We know this is not something anyone was aiming for at the beginning. However, at this stage at least it provides education opportunities sooner rather than later during this extremely difficult situation. It gives many students something concrete to aim for and continue preparing/revising with support from the school.
Please note: The March 2021 series is available only for your students whose exams have been cancelled in 2020.
The March 2021 series is not for AS and A2 students who normally expect to take their first year (AS) and second year (A2) exams in May-June 2021. The recognition of Cambridge GCE qualifications in Nepal is based on two years of tuition that completes 12 years of secondary education. Therefore the March series is only for your students affected by previous cancellations. Our first priory will be registering your students whose exams were cancelled. Previous students who wish to do a retake may register as private candidates, but this is very much secondary and depends upon availability (venues, venue staff).
From the list of subjects available, we now know there are some subjects that are not available in March 2021. Please note that no other subjects will be added to this list. CLICK HERE.
I understand that this creates a gap for some students (approx 10% overall, mostly Computer Science). I sympathise with the situation but we cannot offer any alternatives beyond what is prepared and available. Some students will have to take their subject next in the May June 2021 series.
Please note the following outline of what is happening next:
- All the withdrawals from Oct-Nov series are now complete and have been processed.
- Refunds will be processed in this month. Our objective is for all refunds completed by end of October. We will be relying on the correct bank details shared with us. We will be in touch in the days/weeks ahead to make progress on this task.
- Registrations for the next available series March 2021 we expect will take place from November onwards. The individual subject fees will be set at 2021 rates but at the moment these fees have not been finalised. There is usually an inflationary increase year on year. We will publish the fees as soon as they have been agreed for Nepal.
- Registration for May/June 2021 series will begin from January as usual.
We all know and realise that future series are subject to changes in the pandemic situation that the Nepal government faces. Of course, I hope that the situation improves and I trust that exams can be taken as normal in the future, to allow students to continue with their plans for Higher Education study and career progression.
I thank you all for your patience in these difficult times.
Our next update will be on 9 October. In the meantime, for any queries you may have, please write to the team or to general.enquiry@britishcouncil.org.np