Small drop in matric pass rate

LAHORE: The pass percentage for this year’s matriculation exams in Lahore fell slightly below last year’s rate, though there was a healthy rise reported in the number of candidates who took the test. Not a single student from a government school finished among the top position holders.

According to the results of the Secondary School Certificate (Annual) Examination 2010 announced by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) on Wednesday, 126,753 of the 208,520 students who took the exams passed, a rate of 60.79 per cent.

Last year approximately 10,000 fewer students sat the exams, though with a pass percentage of 61.99. As usual, girls outperformed boys, getting a higher pass percentage, higher grades and the top two positions overall in 2010.

Of most concern was the performance of government-run schools. All 16 students who finished in the top three positions in the Science Group and Humanities Group were from private or autonomous schools. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif raised this issue at last year’s results announcement ceremony, when four of the position holders were from government schools.

Sharif had said that considering that government schools were getting billions of rupees in funding and taught 75 per cent of the student population, their exams performance was very poor.

The Punjab School for Girls, Township, was the most prominent institution with two students amongst the 16 position holders this year. Ramla Ijaz (roll number 132626) of Divisional Public High School for Girls, Model Town, secured first position with 1,019 marks out of 1,050. Zabreen Tahir (roll number 135290) of the Punjab School For Girls, Township, was in second with just one mark less, while Muhammad Atiqur Rehman (roll number 147822) of Sadiq Memorial High School for Boys, Amin Town, Khudian Khas, Kasur, was in third position with 1,014 marks.

The students were recognised at a modest ceremony at the board’s examination centres where BISE Chairman Dr Akram Kashmiri was chief guest and BISE Controller Examination Manzoorul Hassan Niazi announced the results.

The chief guest gave gold medals, cash prizes of Rs20,000 and a laptop each to the candidates who finished first in each group. The second-place finishers got silver medals and Rs15,000 and third-place finishers got bronze medals and Rs10,000.

Sciences (Boys):

Muhammad Attiqur Rahman, who finished third overall, got the highest marks in this category. Awais Raza and Salman Aslam tied for second place with 1013 marks, followed by Arslan Ali and Moaaz Ahmof Hera Public High School for Boys, Nankana Sahib, in third.

Sciences (Girls):

Ramla Ijaz and Zabreen Tahir, who finished first and second overall, also came first and second in this category. Momina Rauf from the Capital Girls High School, Shalamar, Lahore, bagged third place with 1,012 marks.

Humanities (Boys):

Muhammad Bilal Zaib, a private candidate, took first position with 971 marks, far ahead of Muhammad Usman, another private candidate, in second place with 926 marks. Hafiz Kashif, a student of Khudian Public Boys High School, Kasur, came third with 916 marks.

Humanities (Girls):

Rabia Zahid of the Punjab School for Girls, Township, finished top with 978 marks, followed by Sania Riaz from Farooqi High School, Karim Park, Lahore, and Anam Yaseen of Pakistan Model High School for Girls, Raiwind, tied in second place with 975 marks. Khalida Muzzafer and Aqsa Rafaqat of Farooqi Girls High School, Karim Park, Lahore, finished joint third with 964 marks.

Supplementary Exams:

The BISE Lahore Secondary School Certificate (Supplementary) Exami-nations 2010 will start on September 27, 2010.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2010.