52% students pass intermediate exams

Short question-answer format and hidden identities discourage cheating.

KARACHI: The Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) announced the pre-engineering and computer science results on Monday with about 52% of students passing.

BIEK’s chairman Prof. Anwar Ahmedzai announced the results at their auditorium after which a prize and certificate distribution ceremony was organised for the position holders.

In the science pre-engineering group, the boys took the three top positions and all of them belonged to Adamjee Government Science College. The position holders gave the credit to their teachers and administration. The first position was awarded to Syed Hassan Murtaza who scored 998 marks, the second position was secured by M Asad Rizvi who managed to score 996 marks and Syed M Asker came third with 994 marks.

“These boys have made us proud and we believe that devotion, dedication and concentration can help institutions and students prosper,” said the Adamjee Government Science College’s principal.

Rizvi and Asker want to become engineers which is why they are applying to NED University of Engineering and Technology. However, the boy who came first, Murtaza, has plans to become a chartered accountant.

In the computer science group, the first and second positions were clinched by girls from PECHS Government College for Women, Zaineb Parveen and Faryal Sharf. The third position was secured by DHA College for Women’s Zaineb Ahmed. It was a close tie between the three girls because they all scored more than 85% but less than 86%.

Ahmedzai spoke at length on the board reforms at the ceremony. The latest question papers consist of shorter questions and answers to ensure that cheating and rote-learning will not held students score well. Answer papers were organised by roll numbers this time so that the examiner does not know the identity of the student. This helped them prevent any favouritism. “It is the wish of all board members to rationalise the talent. Due to the students’ hard work we have proved that nothing is impossible if the determination to improve the educational system is strong,” said Ahmedzai.

The parents of the position holders were beaming with pride. “The hard work and struggle of parents becomes worth it when you see your child on top,” said the father of position holder Afsar Jafri.

The students mentioned the difficulties they had while studying for the Urdu paper - they confessed that they rote-learnt their textbooks because they found them too difficult. They suggested that the syllabus be improved so that next year’s students can do better.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th,  2011.