October 17, 2003	Friday	Sha'aban 20, 1424

KARACHI, Oct 16: The Board of Intermediate Education, on Thursday announced the results of the HSC, Humanities (private), annual examination, 2003, with an overall pass percentage of 34.11, which is about four per cent higher than that of the last year.

According to the BIE statistics, as many as 11,788 candidates, including 7,108 females, appeared in examination, out of which 3,932 candidates, including 2,522 females, were declared pass.

In comparison to the last year’s figures, an increase of about 1,600 candidates was witnessed in registration for the examination. In the year 2002, there was an increase of 25 per cent was seen in the number of candidates appearing in examinations.

Unlike 2001 and 2002 examinations, females students failed to secure all the top three positions this year, as they clinched first and the third positions, while the second position went to a male student.

Like previous years, the pass percentage of female students remained higher than that of the male students. Female candidates maintained a pass percentage of 36.29, while in the case of male candidates the pass percentage remained as 30.79.

None of the candidates were awarded A-1 grade in the examination, while two male and seven female students were placed in A grade. The board withheld results of 259 candidates for want of correct information or necessary documents.

Samina Iqbal, roll number 293714, secured first position in the examination by securing 804 marks out of the total 1100 marks, while Mohammad Ashfaq, roll no 281738, and Shahnila Nazneen, roll no 288291, got second and third positions respectively.

Breakdown of successful candidates is:

Male; A grade-2, B grade-55, C grade-442, D grade-789 and E grade-118.

Female; A grade-7, B grade-175, C grade-964, D grade-1,254 and E grade-116.

The two position holders, who could appear at media interview session arranged by the BIE, on Thursday, stressed for making changes in the pattern of question papers and improvement in invigilation at the examination centres to discourage the use of unfair means by candidates.

The first position holder, Samina Iqbal, d/o Mohammad Iqbal, said that she took the intermediate level examinations after a break of four years, as she had joined a madressah to acquire qualification of “Aalima”. She said that she was back to modern day’s education, as she believed that the modern as well as religious education was must for the Muslims.

Not an avid TV watcher, she expressed the view that electronic media was not playing its due role in the education and character building of the younger generation. She suggested that the contents of local TV channels should be improved.

Shahnila Nazneen, daughter of Malik Mohammad Zakria, who secured third position, advocated for arts education and maintained that arts students were not less intelligent than the students of other faculties.

She, who wanted to get higher education with English as major subject, noted that standard of PTV programmes had declined during the years.

Chairman of the Board, Prof Iftikhar Zaidi, said that there was need to update the calender of the boards in the province, as the existing one did not provide any clear answer to many things. He said that the compulsory attendance condition could be implemented successfully at colleges with the cooperation of principals.

To another question, he replied that Board would start issuing notices to the colleges whose results in HSC examinations this year remained below 10 per cent, calling to explain their position and asking why their affiliation with the BIE not be cancelled.