KARACHI: The Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) has suspended the affiliation of eight colleges in the city which despite several warnings have consistently underperformed by giving zero to 10 per cent results.

The names of the colleges as announced by BIEK chairman Prof Anwar Ahmed Zai were Clifton College for Women; Ashrafi Intermediate College, Gulshan-i-Iqbal; Scriber College, PECHS; Jinnah Intermediate College for Girls; Al Hadeed College of Science and Commerce; Askari Intermediate College, Gulshan-i-Hadeed; Allama Iqbal College, Steel Town and the pre-medical and pre-engineering faculty of Paradise College, North Nazimabad.

The chairman was speaking at the ceremony to honour the top students of science general group and pre-engineering on their result day at the BIEK office here on Thursday. Showing his pride as always at announcing the results three weeks ahead of time, he thanked controller of examinations Imran Khan Chishti and his staff making it possible.

Another issue that he brought up and which concerned him was Centralised Admission Policy’s (CAP) delaying admissions to the colleges. “If the students don’t get into colleges on time, they suffer as the course isn’t covered by exam time. It’s more taxing for the poor students who have to take tuitions and cover the syllabus on their own,” he said.

Prof Ahmed Zai also observed that there were fewer students taking admission to pre-medical and more to commerce now. “Though pre-engineering is constant, every year, we are seeing 11pc fewer students in pre-medical and an addition of the same percentage in commerce. Then in the ones studying in pre-medical, we have 70pc girls and 30pc boys. But when we look at the medical colleges, there we have another shift in trend with 70pc boys and 30pc girls. Why are the girls dropping out after doing their intermediate in pre-medical? These are some of the things that need looking at,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the higher secondary school certificate pre-engineering group, part-II, Muhammad Sunain Hasan of Delhi Govt College stood first with 992 of a total of 1,100 marks, or a 90.18 percentage. Muhammad Salik Salam of Adamjee Govt Science College was second with 991 marks, or a 90.09 percentage. In the third position there were two students with 980 marks, or a 89.09 percentage — Khuzaima Sohail Salat of D.J. Science Govt College and Aisha Mahboob of BAMM PECHS Govt College for Women.

In the science general group, the top three positions were taken by Hira Salman of Bahria College (first with 947/1,100 marks, or a 86.09 percentage), Pareesa Bashir of BAMM PECHS Govt College for Women (second with 935 marks, an 85 percentage) and Muhammad Mudassir of College of Emerging Technologies (third with 930, a 84.55 percentage).

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2014