ISLAMABAD: Students from the rural areas and the Pakistani embassy in Dubai bagged most of the top positions in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) annual examination 2014.

According to the results announced by the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) on Friday, 77,539 students appeared in the exam out of whom 59,899 were declared pass with the pass percentage of 77.25.

In the past, girls used to get the top positions but this year out of the six top positions three were bagged by boys.

In the science group, Hamza Siddique of the Army Public School Bahawalpur bagged the first position by obtaining 1,031 marks out of 1,050.

The second position went to Miral Saleem of Fazaia Inter College Lahore, who scored 1,030 marks.

Ammar Khawar of the Army Public School Sargodha was declared the third position holder with 1029 marks.

In the humanities group, the first position was bagged by Kulsoom Tariq of Sheikh Rashid Al-Makhtoom Pakistan School, Dubai. She scored 969 marks.

Moaviya Naseer of the Institute of Islamic Sciences, Satra Meel Islamabad, stood second with 968 marks.

Hajra Aamir of Quality School, Misrial Road Rawalpindi, obtained 958 marks and was placed at third position.

The pass percentage for the regular students remained 90.71. As many as 57420 students appeared in the exam out of whom 52084 were declared pass.

However, 20119 students also sat the exam as private or ex-candidates and 7815 of them got through, showing a pass percentage of 38.84. This year, 47 unfair means cases were reported which the FBISE said it decided through a judicious procedure.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Ministry of Education and Professional Training Mohammad Ahsan Raja said competition in the field of education was increasing day by day.

“I want to make sure that transparency and quality of education is further improved and the FBISE becomes a role model for other educational boards all over the country,” he said.

Chairperson FBISE Dr Ikram Ali Malik said quality of education can only be made possible through transparency and merit which he was trying to ensure.

Published in Dawn, June 28th , 2014