LAHORE, Aug 11: Girl candidates retained their supremacy for the third consecutive year in the Punjab University's Bachelor of Arts and Science (BA/BSc) annual examinations by securing five of the six top positions, according to 2012 results declared on Saturday.

The top three positions in the BA examination were bagged by external or private candidates -- Muhsen Ali of Hafizabad was declared first with 688 out of 800 marks, Kanwal Latif of Lahore second with 668 marks while the third position was shared by Muqaddas Shehbaz of Hafizabad and Maria Anam of Gujranwala with 661 marks each.

Topper Muhsen Ali worked at a tandor in Hafizabad. He and second position holder Kanwal Latif, who came from a slum in Lahore suburb, will get financial assistance from the Punjab government to continue their studies.

In the BSc exam, Sania Dar of Punjab College of Science, Ferozepur Road, Lahore, stood first with 686 marks, Sundas Shehzadi of Government Queen Mary College, Lahore, second with 658 marks and Suneela Wajid of Punjab College for Women, Civil Lines, Gujranwala, bagged third position with 655 marks.

Muhsen Ali was declared the overall topper at the result declaration and prize distribution ceremony held for BA, BSc annual examination 2012 arranged at Al-Raazi Hall at Undergraduate Study Centre, PU’s New Campus.

Declaring the results, PU Controller of Examinations Prof Dr Liaqat Ali said that of the 143,750 candidates who took the BA, BSc annual examinations 2012, some 52,396 were declared successful, showing a pass percentage of 39.85. As many as 153,688 candidates had appeared for the BA, BSc annual examinations 2011 and 52,396 were declared successful, showing a 34.09 pass percentage.

He said the pass percentage of the candidates was around six per cent better than the previous year’s and 10 per cent better than 2010. Out of the total candidates, he said, 45,778 were boys and 97,972 girls. As many as 12,309 boys with the pass percentage of 26.89 and 44,975 girls with the pass percentage of 45.91 were declared successful. In special category, 4,060 candidates participated out of which 2,241 students were declared pass, said Dr Ali.

PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran said the government should allocate at least four per cent of the GDP for education and one per cent for research. “The basic reason of all the problems being faced by the country is that the nation has not been put on the path of knowledge and research. Our rulers had not been paying attention to education since the inception of Pakistan,” he said.

Prof Kamran was of the view that if the political parties could unite to pass 17th and 18th amendments, why they could not join hands for promotion of education in the country?

However, on the contrary, funds of the Higher Education Commission were being slashed despite availability of resources.

The vice chancellor appealed to the federal government to make all-out efforts for evolving national consensus on promotion of education.

“Only those nations ruled the world which promoted knowledge in their societies. Our total GDP has been 170 billion dollars while the United States has been spending $900 to $1000 billion on education and $380 billion on scientific research,” he said.

Later, Prof Kamram gave away Rs100,000 to first position holder, Rs75,000 to second and Rs65,000 to the third position holders, besides merit certificates, while shields were given to their teachers.