Bahawalpur School Admissions, 2027-28 Intake: Cadet College Test Dates, Age Rules and the Papers Families Need

Bahawalpur families face several admission calendars at once. Government schools in Punjab follow a provincial session, private networks and Sadiq Public School set their own testing rounds, and the boys' cadet and PAF colleges that Bahawalpur children sit for run selection cycles that begin many months before term. A script count on 10 November 2026 found 30 Bahawalpur campuses in SchoolNama's listings. Every one of them is marked as not open for admissions, with a note asking parents to call the school or the campus office, so none carries a date we have confirmed. SchoolNama's events file has no Bahawalpur entry, and its notices file has nothing aimed at the city or at any one Bahawalpur school; the only entries that name Bahawalpur are two Punjab-wide board exam notices. The dates and rules below come from the official pages and reports we opened on 10 November 2026.

Which schools have admissions open? Sadiq Public School, a boarding and day school in Bahawalpur, is the one city school we checked that has a 2027-28 cycle on its website. Its admissions menu links an Admission Testing Schedule 2027-28, and its homepage carries a separate item for AS Level and F.Sc. admissions, but the schedule itself is posted as images, so we could not read its dates and do not give any here. Applications go in through an online form or a printed form, and the school says places are limited in both classes and boarding houses. Its Apply for Admission page sets a non-refundable admission application fee of Rs 12,000, paid by demand draft, pay order or banker's cheque for paper forms. The steps it lists run from application and review to an admission test, an interview, an offer by email and, finally, confirmation once documents, fees and medical clearance are complete.

Sadiq Public School's age limits are tied to fixed dates. For the Junior, Prep and Senior School, age is counted as at 31 March, and for A Level and Grades 11 and 12 it is counted as at 31 July. The policy page gives 3 years 6 months to 4 years 6 months for K0I (nursery), 4 years 6 months to 5 years for K0II (KG), 5 to 6 for Grade 1, 10 to 13 for Grade 6 and 12 to 15 for Grade 8 or O1. It also says that normally no pupil is admitted to the final or outgoing classes, although the principal may make exceptions. For Grade 11 and 12 or A Level, places depend on external results and an interview; for example, Pre-Medical and Pre-Engineering need a 65 percent Matric aggregate.

The firmest dates for Bahawalpur boys this month come from Cadet College Okara, a boarding college for boys that runs under the Government of Punjab. Okara's advertisement for the 2027 Pre-9th and O Level intake moved the closing date to Monday 9 November 2026 and fixes the written entrance exam for Saturday 14 November 2026. Ten cities can host that exam, Bahawalpur among them, along with Okara, Lahore and Multan. On 10 November 2026 that extended deadline had passed by one day, so ask the college directly whether any late applications are still taken. Candidates must be 12 to 14 years old by 1 April 2027 and must have passed Class 7 or Pre-O Level by April 2027. Applying costs Rs 3,550, which is not returned, and the college takes forms only through its website. Candidates who pass the written test are called later for interviews, medicals and physical fitness tests.

Other boys' colleges list centres in or near the city. Cadet College Jhelum, a boys' boarding college, invites Class 7 and Class 8 applicants on its Admissions-2027 page. Its Written Test page names both Bahawalpur and Multan as stations, but the How to Apply page states that the exam takes place at the Jhelum campus, and no Jhelum page we opened gave a closing date or an exam date, so phone the college. Jhelum's registration costs Rs 3,000; under its General page a Class 7 entrant should be 11 to 13 and a Class 8 or O Level entrant 12 to 14. Cadet College Hasanabdal takes Class 8 (O Level) applications online until 4 December 2026 for a test on 27 December 2026, with a Rs 7,000 fee plus Rs 58 bank charges and an age band of 12 to 14 on 1 August of the entry year; Multan is on its list of centres, and Bahawalpur is not.

The PAF colleges have already moved on. PAF College Sargodha, which takes male candidates only, closed online registration for its 2027 intake on 5 September 2026; Multan is on its list of e-testing centres and Bahawalpur is not. Its schedule put the start of final interviews at 3 November 2026 and gives 11 April 2027 as the date selected boys arrive at the college. Lower Topa's PAF college, likewise open only to boys, took 2027 registrations between 8 September and 4 October 2026, a window shut well before 10 November 2026. It wants applicants aged 11 years 6 months to 13 years 6 months on 1 January 2027 and tests at PAF centres including Multan, with none in Bahawalpur.

Private networks in the city gave far fewer details. On beaconhouse.net, the Yazman Road branch in Bahawalpur lists early years, primary, middle and secondary programmes, while the Model Town A branch lists early years, primary years and a project-based learning stream. Neither page gives an admission date. Both link to an online admissions portal that, on 10 November 2026, said registrations were closing soon without naming a deadline, and promised a call from a school representative within two working days of an enquiry. The City School keeps registration open all year, according to its admissions page, adds that a registration is no promise of a seat, and includes Bahawalpur in its list of A Level cities. Allied Schools' contact page lists regional offices in 13 places, including Multan and Sahiwal, but no Bahawalpur office, and its homepage showed no dated admission notice. We found no official website for Army Public School Bahawalpur, so we have no dates for it. With each of these schools, the campus office is the place to get the 2027-28 dates.

When should parents apply? The answer depends on the type of school. Boarding colleges close early: Cadet College Okara's deadline fell in early November 2026 for entry in 2027, and both PAF colleges closed registration in September or October. For government schools, the provincial year starts in April. In a 17 January 2026 report, Daily Pakistan said Punjab's 2026 school year was to open on 1 April, with government schools handing free books to new admissions from 5 April. According to The Express Tribune of 17 August 2026, the School Education Department approved replacing the curriculum for Classes 1 to 5 from the start of the new session on 1 April 2027, though the new course content was still awaiting final approval. A ProPakistani report of 13 March 2026 described a government-school admissions drive for 2026-27 that aimed to lift enrolment by at least seven percent and set individual targets for teachers. We found no published 2027 admission schedule for Bahawalpur's government schools, so treat late winter and early spring as the period to watch, not a confirmed date.

Daanish Schools offer another route for Bahawalpur district. The Punjab Daanish Schools authority lists boys' and girls' Daanish Schools at Hasilpur, in Bahawalpur district, on its homepage. ProPakistani's 13 October 2026 report on the 2027 Class 6 intake said Class 5 pass-outs may apply, that boys must be aged 10 to 12 and girls 10 to 13, and that nine in ten seats are for deserving children; no closing date was given. The authority's Admission Criteria page describes a 100-mark written test, an initial household income limit of Rs 15,000 a month that the authority can change, and an advertisement each October. The induction timeline on its website is for the 2020 intake, so it does not tell you the 2027 dates; ask the Hasilpur campus.

Families who need a free place can also use the Punjab Education Foundation. PEF's voucher FAQ states that the scheme reaches every one of Punjab's 36 districts and that a school must not take any fee at all from a voucher-holder, even an admission charge. A family cannot request a voucher on its own; PEF hands out cards once a partner school puts the child forward or a PEF household survey identifies them. Under PEF's assisted-schools FAQ, a partner school must not take money from an enrolled pupil in any form, fines included, and must put up the prescribed PEF board at its main gate or somewhere equally visible. ProPakistani reported on 13 May 2026 that PEF let licensed schools finish 2026-27 enrolment until 14 May 2026, so approach partner schools early in the session.

Are tests and interviews common? Yes. Each school page we read that set out its process uses a written test, an interview, or both. Sadiq Public School tests Grades 3 to 10 in English, Mathematics and Urdu, adds Physics, Chemistry and Biology or Computer Science for O2 and O3, sets each paper at 25 marks and 30 minutes, and does not test K0I or K0II in writing. A candidate normally needs 50 percent in each subject to reach the interview, which is in English and must be attended by at least one parent, and a medical check follows. The City School tests children from Class I in English, Urdu and Mathematics for 30 minutes with a 50 percent pass mark, and interviews both parents. Okara's paper spans five subjects, from Islamic Studies to General Science, while the Daanish paper adds an IQ section to its English, Urdu, Mathematics and science questions. For help getting ready, read /news/school-admission-test-preparation; for age cut-offs, read /news/class-1-admission-age-pakistan.

Board registration is a separate matter for older pupils. Per ProPakistani on 9 June 2026, Punjab's boards gave Class 9 candidates of the 2026-2028 session until 22 June 2026 to register at the normal fee, counting from 25 April, then charged Rs 600 extra per student up to 7 July 2026. On 10 November 2026 the BISE Bahawalpur homepage listed a revised Class 9 registration schedule and a revised Class 11 registration schedule for the 2026-28 session, plus re-admission schedules, but these are linked files we did not open, so we give no dates for them. When a child changes school in Class 9 or Class 11, check with the new school that the BISE Bahawalpur registration is in place.

What documents will you need? Sadiq Public School's list is the longest we found: the child's passport photo, both parents' CNICs, the child's Smart Card or B-Form, the father's police clearance form, a vaccination card, the latest report from the previous school, the school leaving certificate before joining, any exam result card, the signed code of conduct, the attendance undertaking, and the Rs 12,000 draft. For The City School you need a pair of recent passport photos and a birth certificate photocopy that has been attested; children moving from another school also bring their latest report card with provisional and character certificates. Cadet College Okara needs a scanned photo and NADRA B-Form, and the Daanish criteria ask for four photographs, the Class 5 result, the father's ID card copy and a B-Form. Gather these papers weeks ahead; a nationwide version of the list sits at /news/school-admission-documents-pakistan.

Open days are hard to find. We did not see a dated 2027-28 open day on any Bahawalpur school page opened for this guide, and no Bahawalpur event appears in SchoolNama's own events data either. City School parents can request a campus tour through a booking link on its admissions page. For Sadiq Public School, Beaconhouse and the rest, phone the admissions office and ask to visit before paying any application or registration fee.

Because so few Bahawalpur schools publish deadlines, apply to more than one and keep every school's dates on one calendar. Begin a shortlist on the Bahawalpur city page (/bahawalpur), which includes Sadiq Public School (/schools/sadiq-public-school-bahawalpur) and both Beaconhouse campuses, then compare costs in /news/school-fees-in-bahawalpur and /news/low-fee-schools-in-bahawalpur. For a broader look at the city, try /news/best-schools-in-bahawalpur or /news/best-matric-schools-in-bahawalpur; timing advice sits in /news/best-time-to-apply-school-admission-pakistan, and Multan families' options are in /news/school-admissions-in-multan. Then confirm each date with the school itself.