September 10, 2003	Wednesday	Rajab 12, 1424

KARACHI, Sept 9: The female students shattered the supremacy of male students, which they had achieved last year in the HSC Commerce (Part-II) annual examinations, by securing top three positions in 2003 examinations.

The Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi, on Tuesday announced the results of HSC Commerce annual examinations 2003, with a pass percentage of 47.72, which was about 4 per cent higher than that of the last year.

According to BIE result gazette, female students of the Commecs Institute of Business Education clinched first and second positions in the consolidated merit list of male and female students, while another female student from the Government College of Commerce and Economics bagged third position.

Maria Chinoy, roll no 109783, secured first position by securing 934 (84.91%), out of 1100 marks, while second position went to Namra Zia, roll no 109792, who got 927 (84.27 %) marks. Third position went to Kiran Hamid, roll no 108599, who secured 920 (83.64%) marks.

As many as 14,140 candidates, including 4,597 female candidates, appeared in the examinations, out of which 6,747, including 3,050 females, were declared pass. Last year a total of 9 candidates were awarded A-1 grade, while this year the number of A-1 graders increased up to 23, which included 19 female students.

Results of 99 students were withheld for want of correct information or using unfair means. The breakdown of successful candidates is:

Male; A-1 grade, 4, A grade, 156, B grade, 558, C grade, 1,341, D grade 1,526 and E grade, 112.

Female; A-1 grade, 19, A grade, 354, B grade, 906, C grade, 1258, D grade, 506 and E grade, 7.

Of the 144 colleges, there were three boys and seven girls institutions whose results remained 100 per cent. The institutions are: The Agha Khan Higher Secondary School (Boys and Girls), Commecs Institute of Business Education, Ghulaman-e-Abbas College, Professional College, Karachi Public Higher Secondary School, Pakistan Education Foundation, Pride Girls College, College of Economics and Social Development and Imperial College.

There were nine institutions, all running in private sector, which gave zero performance, while results of 29 colleges, including the government and private colleges and higher secondary schools, remained less than 30 per cent.

Referring to the poor performance by a number of educational institutions, the chairman of the BIE, Prof Iftikhar H Zaidi said that board had already started a process of surveying the colleges to evaluate their performance with respect to examination results and available infrastructure, teaching faculty and other facilities provided by these institutions.

He said that the institutions showing zero results would surely be penalized in the light of existing rules.

Talking about lack of academic discipline at the government colleges, he said that meaningful efforts were needed to rectify the situation. He said that colleges were facing paucity of staff, while on the other hand many of the teachers needed further training and motivation so that they could cater to the educational needs of the students.

Earlier, the top position holders, who were called at the BIE office for their interviews with the press, maintained that practical aspects should be given due place in Commerce syllabi.

They said that students, particularly the male folks, should be given extra attention at colleges, while parents should also monitor their wards in order to encourage them in their studies and improve their performance in examinations.

Maria Chinoy, d/o Ahmed Chinoy, of the Commecs Institute, who secured first position, wanted to do M Com and CA as well. She said that certain books of Intermediate commerce required to be revised to include the practical aspect as well.

Agreeing to Maria’s views, the second position holder, Namra Zia, d/o Abdul Majeed Zia, also of Commecs Institute, said that more and more women were joining commerce profession and they could surely change the situation there too.

She agreed to a questioner that standard of education at colleges had deteriorated and that was why private tuition centres were doing roaring business by preparing students purely from examination point of view. She said that teaching hours at government colleges be increased and students should be involved in thorough study rather than depending on cramming or guess papers.

Kiran Hamid, d/o Hamid Noor Ali, who secured third position from a government college, expressed the view that at most of the college teachers were unable to pay individual attention to students as enrolment was well beyond the acceptable strength.

Though she claimed that she took no tuition at any coaching centre, she maintained that coaching centres helped a lot in grooming the personality of students and enhance their ability to write well and perform better in the examinations. She said that electronic media was also proving helpful for students in their academic pursuits.