Girls sweep top positions in matric yet again

ISLAMABAD:

Female students bagged the top three positions in the science and humanities (arts) disciplines in the federal board’s matriculation examinations, the results for which were announced on Tuesday. A total of 119,394 students sat for the ninth and tenth-grade exams across the country and abroad.

According to the results, Rida Fatima of the Global College of Science, Region Road, secured first position with 1,089 marks in the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education’s (FBISE) Secondary School Certificate (matriculation) exam in the science group.

Maryam Ghaffar of Islamabad Model College for Girls and Wardah Farooq of APS Lahore secured second position with 1,088 marks, while Amna Aamer of APS Lahore and Fatimah Ansari of APS Gujranwala secured third position with 1,087 marks.

Similarly, Malaika Amir of DHA Senior School Lahore secured first position with 1,037 marks in the humanities group.

Rida Fatima Waheed of Dr AQ Khan School Bahria Town and Zainab Khalid of APS Lahore Cantt secured second position with 1,032 marks, while Tehseen Eman of APS Lahore secured third position with 1,031 marks.

The proportion of students who passed the 10th grade was 89.61 per cent while the proportion of those who passed in the 9th grade was 65.28 per cent. The pass percentage in the science group was 90 per cent, while in the humanities it was 82 per cent.

Federal Minister of Education Rana Tanveer Hussain presided over the ceremony where the results were announced. He congratulated those who bagged top positions as well as their families.

He pointed out that the passing percentage for the exams was increased to 40 percent from next year.

FBISE Chairman Syed Qaiser Alam expressed gratitude to the federal minister for giving his department ‘the authority to carry out improvements’ over the last 18 months.

He said they had introduced a series of reforms in line with the minister’s directives, saying that the department and students had reaped the reward for it.

He pointed out that the number of out-of-school children had reduced. He said that in another first, an endowment fund has been established for education.

He said that the result was prepared in 20-25 days. It was done through e-marking, he added.

Private students

Of the 119,394 students who sat for the exams, 14,306 were private students. They had a pass percentage of 58.36 per cent compared to 93.61 per cent overall.

In the federal areas, 32,084 students appeared for the exams, with an overall pass percentage of 87.53 per cent. Of those, 4,841 were private students. The overall difference in pass percentage of regular and private candidates was visible in Islamabad as well. Over 93 per cent of regular students cleared the exam while only 53 per cent of private students were successful.

Moreover, 82 students were flagged for using unfair means during the exams. The majority of the students were fined Rs2,000. At least 20 students had their relevant papers cancelled. At least one student had all their papers cancelled while another was debarred from appearing in the exam for a year.

One student, Shahmeer Ali, was exonerated.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2023.