KARACHI, July 8: The Board of Secondary Education, Karachi, on Monday announced the results of SSC part-II (regular and private) general group annual examinations 2002, with an overall pass percentage of 48.90 which is 5.40 per cent higher than that of the last year.

The first three positions went to four students, including three girls, of private schools. The second position was shared by two students of Habib Girls Secondary School.

A student of the Beaconhouse Public School, Hiba Hasnat, Roll No 409733, clinched the first position by securing 775 marks out of 850 (91.18 per cent). Mariam Gazdar, roll No 412013, and Nadia Mughal, roll No 412016, both of the Habib Girls Secondary School, Garden Road, bagged second position jointly, while Haris Mir, roll No 376673, of BVS Parsi High School, got third position.

In all, 37094 students were registered as regular, while 6533 as private candidates. The overall turn up of the candidates remained 43174 (98.96 per cent). A total of 29535 (68.40 per cent) girl students appeared in the examinations, out of whom 14988 (50.75 per cent) were declared pass.

In the case of boys, the overall pass percentage remained 44.77. Out of 13858 students registered as private and regular candidates, 13639 appeared and 6123 passed the examinations.

A student of St Joseph’s Convent High School, Ayesha Neelum, roll No 417019, got third position in the girls’ merit list.

The merit positions of boys remained as follows:

First: Haris Mir of BVS Parsi High School (740 marks); second: Jawaid of KMA Boys Secondary School (727 marks) and third: Mohammad Ismail of the Aga Khan Boys Secondary School, Kharadar, (715 marks).

None of the students from government schools could get any position in the merit list this year, while one government school student had managed to get position last year.

The executive district officer (education), Prof Raees Alvi, said efforts were being made to revamp the academic activities at the government schools and because of that, he said, the government had decided not to observe any relaxation in the attendance rules at any cost this year.

Believing that attendance and punctuality by students was the key to academic excellence at government schools, Mr Alvi said his department would go hard against teachers and students who failed to maintain attendance up to the mark. “If any teacher or student is found defaulting on the attendance requirement during the academic year, he could be removed from school,” he mentioned.

The BSE controller of examinations, Mohammad Saleem Khan, said students who got positions in the merit lists received their mark sheets at a ceremony at the Karachi Press Club on Monday.

Mr Khan said he took over the charge of controller of examinations at a time when conditions were critical. “I have been able to deliver the results within a record time,” he added.

To a question, he said Matric science group results would be announced by the end of the month. He said coding of answer scripts in the case of class IX annual examinations had been done in the subjects of English and Mathematics this year.

The breakdown of candidates passing the examinations is as follows:

A-one grade: 182 regular and two private candidates; A-grade: 1456 regular and 49 private; B-grade: 4022 regular and 322 private; C grade: 7264 regular and 1010 private; D grade: 5232 regular and 1073 private; E grade: 374 regular and 107 private.

Results of 336 candidates were withheld for want of correct information, while results of 79 candidates were withheld for using “unfair means”. The results of such candidates will be released as soon as the committee dealing with the unfair mean cases takes any decision.