Five of the six positions were secured by the students of government colleges, while one — the first position — went to a girl student of a private higher secondary school. Last year, all the top six positions had been clinched by girls, but this year one boy succeeded to bag the third position.
The number of A-1 graders remained more than double as compared to the last year’s figures. In all, 34 boys and 226 girls got A-1 grade, while last year 22 boys and 99 girls had secured A-1 grade.
Since the provincial health department has allocated 373 seats for admissions to the first year MBBS classes at the two medical colleges — DMC & SMC — it is believed that another 100 students, out of the 1,080 who passed the exams this year in A grade, could also run for admission to the govt medical colleges.
In all, 11,537 candidates, including 8,923 girls, had appeared in the examinations, out of whom 6,105, including 5,060 girls, were declared pass. Pass percentage for girls remained 56.71, while 42.45 per cent of the boys got through the exams.
A student of the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, Romana Izzat Ali, roll No 74015, clinched the first position by securing 956 out of 1,100 marks, while the second position was shared by two students of St Joseph’s Govt College for Women — Sana Zia, roll No 78392, and Sana Marium, roll No 78448.
Faraz Ali Khan, roll No 70,603, of Adamjee Govt Science College, got third position. Sana Fatima, roll No 78,444 and Malkut Fatima Kazmi, roll No 78,328 — both of the St Joseph’s Govt College for Women — got fourth and fifth position respectively, while Sumaira Shafi, roll No 78,170, of PECHS Govt Girls College, got sixth position.
In all, 68 male or co-educational and 46 female educational institutions had sent up their candidates for examinations. There were 46 male or co-educational institutions which could not achieve a pass percentage — 50 or above — while in the female side, there were 30 institutions which failed to attain the pass percentage.
There were seven boys and girls’ colleges and higher secondary schools, which failed to see any of their students passing the exams.
Pakistan Steel Cadet College, Hamdard Public Higher Secondary School, Foundation Public Higher Secondary School and Army Public College, Malir Cantt, managed to achieve 100 per cent results among the institutions for boys, while among the girls’ institutions, DHA Degree College for Women could get a maximum result of 99.17 per cent, followed by PECHS Govt College for Women (97.29%) and St Joseph’s Govt College for Woman (95.10%).
The breakdown of candidates who passed the examinations is as follows:
Boys: A grade 34 (1.38 %); A grade 212 (8.61%); B grade 269 (10.93%); C grade 341 (13.85%); D grade 183 (7.43%); and E grade 3 (0.12%).
Girls: A 1 grade 226 (2.53%); A grade 1053 (11.80%); B grade 1558 (17.46%); C grade 1619 (18.14%); D grade 601 (6.74%); and E grade none.
Speaking at a press conference arranged for the position holders, BIEK chairman Prof Muhammad Sharif Memon said due to implementation of the centralized admission policy, the results of government institutions had improved as, according to him, merit and quality at colleges were not allowed to be polluted due to induction of lower grade students in violation of the merit list.
However, he observed that there was a need for establishing an overall culture, conducive to education and teaching at the government institutions in order to see any further increase in pass percentage of other government institutions, which had been unable to excel for long.
Principal of the St Joseph’s College for Women, Dr Tanveer Anjum, said very few of the government colleges could compete with the reputed private institutions. Government institutions in general lacked the required environment, facilities, faculty and because of that an overall improvement in quality of education in the government institutions remained a daunting task, she observed.
She said many of the newly-appointed teachers through public service commission lacked proficiency in English, which proved a great handicap for teachers taking science subjects.
POSITION HOLDERS: The top three position holders pointed out that preparation for entrance test to medical colleges required extra work and expenditures, but at the same time it was, at least, a tool to judge potential of the students, particularly of those who passed the HSC examinations with A-1 and A grades.
The first position holder, Romana Izzat Ali, said curriculum and courses needed to be improved further.
Sana Zia, who shared second position with Sana Marium, said admission at colleges should be made under the centralized admission policy. Though education at her college was of high standard, she took private tuition to overcome the deficiency in certain subjects.
Sana Marium was of the view that A-1 graders should not be asked to appear in the entrance test for admission to medical colleges. She agreed that quality of education at colleges could improve further if coaching centres were closed down.
The third position holder, Faraz Ali Khan, said medical college entrance test ensured transparency in admission process.
The BIEK controller of examinations, Prof Amjad Ali Syed, said in view of the medical college admissions, the BIEK had already expedited the process of issuing mark sheets, which would be handed over to the students in their colleges from August 15.