RAWALPINDI: Cases of unfair means witnessed an increase of over 15 per cent in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) annual examinations 2014 held under the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Rawalpindi.

The results announced on Friday also showed a dismissal performance by government schools as none of them in the Rawalpindi district could figure in the top 12 positions. The overall pass parentage remained 61.

This year, the board detected 47 cases of cheating against 38 last year.

Govt schools in Rawalpindi shows poor results

“No doubt this year the unfair mean cases saw a slight increase, but this is a positive development which shows we didn’t give any relaxation to the cheaters,” said Arslan Cheema, the BISE spokesman. He said the unfair mean cases were being investigated by the discipline branch of the board.

The committee will decide the cases before the commencement of the supplementary examinations in about three to four months.

Mr Cheema said this year it was noticed that girl students didn’t rely on unfair means, as only two such cases were reported against them compared to 45 against boys.

“Statistically speaking, during the last five years unfair mean cases have registered a significant decrease,” he said.

According to the results, 101900 students appeared in examination out of whom 62293 managed to pass the examination. The pass percentage for girls students remained 70.54 and boys 52.87.

Of the total 12 top positions, 11 were clinched by students of military and private institutions. Only one position was grabbed by the student of a government run school - Government Girls High School Nakodar Jhelum - whose Sana Rasheed got third position in the general group by getting 969 marks out of the total 1100.

However, none of the students of government schools in the Rawalpindi district could figure in the top 12 positions.

According to the results, Nimra Mumtaz of Munir Public Girls High School clinched the overall first position by getting 1067 marks. She was followed by Atteqa Hashmi of Siddeeq Public School Rawalpindi who bagged 1057 marks.

While Yusra Bint-i-Hafeez of Divisional Public School, Shamsabad, was adjudged as the third position holder with 1054 marks.

Speaking to Dawn, Executive District Officer (education) Qazi Zahoorul Haq agreed that the performance of 354 high schools in the Rawalpindi district was not as best as that of the private institutions.

“I agree that none of our students could figure in the top 12 positions,” he said.

He added that there were two major factors for this. “We offer admissions to all students but private institutions accept only brilliant students. Secondly, I would say the performance of our teachers is also not up to the mark.”

Meanwhile, the board held a prize-giving ceremony at Asghar Mall College. MPA Raja Hanif distributed awards and prizes among the position holders.

Speaking on the occasion, the MPA said the Punjab government had been providing best facilities to educational institutions for brining a real change in the education sector.

Chairman BISE Dr Zareef congratulated the successful students. “Through the online database, we prepared fair and transparent results,” he said.

MNA Tahira Aurangzeb, MPAs Iftikhar Malik and Engineer Qamarul Islam also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2014