Farmer's son tops engineering test in K-P, outshines position holders

Liaquat Ali, who hails from the rural Marghuz village, remains outstanding among 15,864 students

PESHAWAR: The son of a poor-stricken farmer in Swabi on Sunday topped the province-wide Educational Testing and Evaluating Agency (ETEA) engineering entrance test in Swabi, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Liaquat Ali who hails from the rural Marghuz village remained outstanding among 15,864 students of the province, beating private schools position holders and clinched top position in the test.

Ali, a student of Government Centennial Model High School, obtained 605 out of 800 marks in the test held under the University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar.

The student represented the board of intermediate and secondary education Mardan.

According to the results declared on Monday, only two students scored above 600 marks out of a total 800 in which Ali, the other one being Abbottabad's Jamal Ahmad who acquired 601 marks. Muhammad Umer Saleem of the same education board secured 591 marks. 28 other students attained marks between 500 to 599, while 219 others secured 400 to 499 marks.



Similarly, 845 students got marks between 300 to 399, around 1800 students between 200 to 299 marks while the remaining could attain below 200 marks.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Ali shared that he belongs to a very destitute family with his father working as a farmer in one of the villages. He has two brothers and a sister while the family depends on their father's earning. “I was throughout a topper in my school," Ali said and added that so far he hasn't been rewarded from the government or by his school's administration.

Following his outstanding results, Ali secured scholarship at Quaid-e-Azam College, Swabi and is now student of FSc. “I am happy to have topped the entrance test, but as the same time I am worried how I will manage the university admission fee and other expenditures,” he said.

Emphasising that all students can earn positions if they work hard, Ali revealed he had also topped secondary school certificate examination, bagging 953 out of 1100 marks despite poverty and fewer opportunities.

Highlighting that destitute students are hardworking but they require opportunities, Ali urged the government to improve standard at government schools and improve the facilities.