KARACHI: Boys clinch top positions in SSC general group exam
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 14: Male candidates broke the long held supremacy of female students this year by securing overall top three positions in the SSC Part-II General (Regular) group Annual Examinations 2004.
The results were declared by the Board of Secondary Education, Karachi, on Wednesday with a pass percentage of 66.04, which was 13.5 per cent higher than last year's.
According to statistics of the BSE, the male position holders all belonged to the same school (private) - Ghulaman-e-Abbas School, Mauripur Road. Jawed Ali, Muhammad Jawwad, and Ali Zain secured first, second and third positions by obtaining 775, 764 and 758 marks respectively out of 850.
While four female candidates, who topped the female merit list came equally from two private schools. Two students of Mama Baby Care Kindergarten, Amil Colony, Hifza Muhammad Hanif and Wardah Rasool, secured 748 marks each for first position.
And two students of Hameed Muhammad Primary and Secondary School, Mithadar, Sumaira Niazi and Sumaira Parveen, got second and third positions respectively. As many as 33,649 regular candidates, including 24,645 girls, took the said exams, and 22,221 candidates including 16,870 girls, were declared pass.
The pass percentage of boy and girl students remained 59.43 and 68.45 respectively. The board also announced results of the SSC General Group (Private) Part-II Annual Examinations the same day.
A total of 7,833 candidates, including 2,568 girls, appeared in the exams, and 4,539, including 1,518 girls, were declared pass with an overall pass percentage of 57.95.
Referring to the number of candidates declared pass, an official of the board maintained that their number had increased slightly, as some candidates were also granted one per cent grace marks in line with the directives of the controlling authority of the board - the governor of Sindh.
The results of 65 candidates were withheld for want of correct information or on grounds of using unfair means, added the BSE notification. The board had arranged a function to introduce the position holders to the media and handing over marks sheet to them. The chairman of the board, Brig (retd) Shafiullah Qureshi, gave away the marks sheets to the available three boys and three girls.
Replying to questions, the BSE chairman agreed that in view of the increase in the number of candidates every year, the staff was overworked, saying therefore, there existed a room for bifurcation of the educational board or devolution of the existing set up to towns level. However, no such proposal had been placed before the high authorities so far, he added.
He informed that the board had been negotiating with various quarters with regard to development of a website, so that exam results and other information for students could be placed on it. He hoped the website would be ready by 2005.
Controller of Examination Muhammad Saleem Khan, said it was just a coincidence that the first three positions were bagged by three students of the same school. He added that the board had a foolproof system of examination and thinking there was something fishy would be tantamount to doubting the hard work and talent of the students in question.
In their interviews to newsmen, the position holders stressed the need for bringing changes in textbooks as well as in the system of examination. They viewed that some courses were too lengthy and purposeless.
Jawed Ali s/o Sultan Ali who secured first position in the consolidated merit list, said he had an ambition of becoming a chartered accountant in future. He viewed that books of English and Economics should be reviewed and improved.
