Intermediate topper gets laptop, Rs20,000

Lahore Board announces Part I, II results with position holders being given medals and cash prizes.

LAHORE:

The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education position holders in the 2012 Intermediate Part II exams were given medals and cash awards at a ceremony on Saturday.

The board had announced their names on Friday.

The results of Intermediate Part I exams were also declared on Saturday.

The top three position holders – boys and girls – in humanities, commerce, pre-engineering, pre-medical and general science were awarded Rs20,000, Rs15,000 and Rs10,000 each by the board.

Amina Riaz from the Punjab College for Women, who secured 1,029 marks and topped the board exams, was given a standing ovation as she made her way to the stage. Riaz was also awarded a laptop by the board. Her college awarded her an 800 CC car. Fatima Khurshid, another Punjab College student, secured the third overall position with 1,027 marks and the second position in the pre-engineering (girls) group. Of the top 30 positions students of the Punjab College for Women secured six.

Muhammad Umer of the Government College University came in second with 1,028 marks. Seven GCU students are among the top 30 position holders.

Umer, who had 493 marks in Part I exams, told The Express Tribune he was confident that he would get one of the top positions. The aspiring electrical engineer said students of private institutions have an edge over those studying in government institutions. “[Private institutions] charge a higher fee [but also] work harder with their students,” he said.

Khurshid said that she was not surprised that her college had secured six positions in the board, “Our teachers have worked really hard with us.”

Students of the Kinnaird College for Women secured as many as five top positions in various groups this year. Principal Dr Rukhsana David said she was happy with the results. Two students of the Government College for Women, Warburton (a village near Nankana Sahib) were among the top 30 students. One of them, Ammara Yousuf, secured the first position in the humanities group with 951 marks. She said the government needed to focus on facilities in rural areas. “My college does not even have teachers for all subjects. Imagine what our performance could be if we had the facilities private colleges’ students have.”

Two students – Sabahat Ashraf of the Mansoora Model Intermediate College for Girls and Sheharyar Ahmed of the Government Islamia College Civil Lines – who secured the highest marks in psychology, were awarded the Arfa Khan Gold Medal.

The awards ceremony was held at Alhamra and Hamza Shahbaz was the chief guest.

Dr David regretted that this year the ceremony was disorganised. She said Kinnaird students had not been allowed to attend the ceremony by the board. Officials had told us the hall was overcrowded, she said. “The hall is full of students from the Punjab Group of Colleges,” she said adding, “all position holders should be treated equally.”

Hamza Shahbaz, the chief guest, regretted that the state had failed to ensure provision of equal educational opportunities for children.  By spending more on education, said Shahbaz, terrorism could be countered.

Pass percentage

The overall pass percentage this year was 56.85. Among girls it was 65.90% and for boys it was 48.15%.

The pass percentage for girls was higher than boys in all five groups. 86.89% of the girls of the pre-engineering passed while for boys the pass percentage was 78.63. In the pre-medical group, 85.44% of girls who sat the exams passed as compared to 76.72% of the boys. In the general science group, 70.55% of the female candidates passed while the pass percentage of male candidates was 50.05%.

The biggest difference among the pass percentage among the two groups was in the humanities group. Only 28.93% of the boys who appeared for the exams passed as compared to 56.63% of the girls. Even though boys secured the top three positions in the commerce group, the pass percentage was higher among girls (77.22) as compared to boys, of whom 53.52% passed the exams.

Examinations Controller Anwar Farooq said that a total of 151, 646 candidates had taken the exam. BISE Lahore Chairman Dr Nasrullah Virk said the board had also introduced an SMS service. Students can find out their result by sending an SMS to 80029.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2012.