In a first, NED to retest candidates after majority fail

Intermittent school closures blamed for poor performance of candidates

KARACHI:

Intermittent school closures that spanned over the course of the past one and a half years of the pandemic have now started to reflect in the bleak outcome, as examination results show slumping grades.

This is particularly true for the entrance test conducted by NED University of Engineering and Technology, which suffered a further 10 per cent decrease in success rate as compared to last year.

Owing to which, the engineering university has made the unprecedented decision to re-conduct its entrance examinations, in a bid to offer aspiring students a second chance.

Out of the 14,337 candidates appearing for the Bachelor of Engineering test for about 2,600 seats, only 42 per cent passed the test and the majority 58 per cent failed.

Comparatively, last year, over 52 per cent of candidates managed to pass the test, out of the total of 9,200 candidates who appeared for it. Many of them cleared the test without sitting for board examinations. However, this year the number has increased to more than 14,000, which is a record in the history of NED.

Among the candidates who took part in the test this year were 9,964 boys and 4,373 girls, and the successful candidates included 3,731 boys and 2,299 girls.

Read More: Covid prompts change in NED admission policy

“Last year, 100 self-financing seats remained vacant, and this year the results have dropped further,” said NED Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Tufail. “Being given another chance, students who have failed the test can re-participate by depositing less than 50 per cent admission fee of only Rs1,500,” he added.

According to Tufail, this is also an opportunity for candidates who have passed the first test to improve their results. If the result in the second test does not improve, then the student’s merit for admission will be counted on the basis of the first result. “Students who for some reason could not participate in the first test or did not submit the B form can also take advantage of this opportunity. The tests will be conducted from September 25 to 27.”

In addition to that, according to test data obtained from NED University, the highest number of students to pass entrance exam in the Sindh Board of Education have been those from the Karachi Boards. Out of the total 10,290 candidates who appeared for the entrance exams from the board, 4,384 passed the test. 42.6 per cent students of Karachi Board passed the NED test while the result of any other board of Sindh did not exceed 31 per cent, including the Hyderabad board which was only second to Karachi.

Out of 905 students from Hyderabad Board, 285 passed the test and the result was 31 per cent, while from Sukkur Board, 115 out of 486 students passed the test and the result was 23.6 per cent. From Larkana Board of Education, 125 out of 501 students passed and the result was 25 per cent. Similarly, 547 students from Mirpur Khas Board participated in the entrance test and out of them 137 students passed and the result was 25 per cent. While out of 263 students from Nawabshah Board 56 passed and the result was 29 per cent. On the other hand, the number of candidates from Federal Board, Cambridge and Aga Khan Board was limited. However, their results were better. From Cambridge Board, 641 students appeared in the entrance test and 551 passed. Similarly, 98 out of 128 passed from Aga Khan Board while 331 out of 331 participating students passed from Federal Board.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2021.