KARACHI: “A country’s human resource is its asset. And human capital is developed through education. All countries climbing the ladder of progress pay special heed to education. Look at Japan which doesn’t have material resources but it is the world’s third biggest economic power as it earns through its human resource,” said senior banker and former finance minister Shaukat Tareen.

He was speaking at the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi’s (BIEK) result announcing ceremony for commerce (regular and private) groups on Wednesday.

“Sixty per cent of Pakistan’s population is under-25. We should take advantage of this youth bulge through education. BIEK here is a gateway to professional education. It is from here that you move to professional educational institutions. My advice to students is to apply your mind to what you really want to do. Pursue the area you have the aptitude for. Don’t listen to others who tell you to study medicine or engineering. There are so many other fields, too. Listen to your own heart,” said Mr Tareen.

‘Take advantage of Pakistan’s youth bulge through education’

He also reminded that many countries have learnt from Pakistan and progressed ahead leaving us behind; South Korea copied and implemented Pakistan’s economic planning strategy such as the five-year plan. “Therefore, we have the potential to be as good or better,” he said, adding that the commerce graduates passing their intermediate exam on Wednesday should think beyond becoming just accountants because there is so much more that they can do.

Meanwhile, a total of 36,245 candidates appeared in the commerce regular group including 19,654 male and 16,591 female. Of these, 15,836, including 7,496 male and 8,340 female, passed. The pass percentage was 43.69.

The top two position holders both hail from DA Degree College for Women. Aisha Asif, who stood first with 954 out of a total of 1,100 marks, said that she wanted to do her MBA in Finance. Ayesha Mubashir, who was second with 936 marks, also wanted to pursue an MBA. Mohammad Ishaq of Tabani’s College, coming third with 931 marks, said he was already studying Chartered Accountancy (CA).

In the private group, a total of 6,975 candidates of whom 4,779 male and 2,196 female appeared for the exam. Of these 2,762 of whom 1,972 male and 790 were female, passed. The pass percentage was 39.60.

Mohammad Muzammil, the top position holder, bagged 886 of a total of 1,100 marks. He said he was also doing CA. Faiza Rauf, who earned 844 marks and was second, said she wanted to get into event management in the future. Sana Sikander came third with 840 marks.

Controller of examinations Mohammad Imran Khan Chishti said that they were concerned about the drop in standards of government colleges and shared that BIEK was going to pay random visits to colleges to check what was going on there. “Colleges should have good attendance in order to stay affiliated with BIEK,” he said.

He also said that they were preparing a model exam paper. “If not in 2017, then in 2018, we will hold the first year exams based on our model paper with at least 20pc multiple choice questions. We will also have a question bank,” he said.

Besides certificates and gifts, all the position holders were presented with Dr Ishratul Ibad gold medals along with cash prizes of Rs100,000 for the top position holder, Rs50,000 for second and Rs30,000 for the third.

Published in Dawn September 22nd, 2016