KARACHI, Aug 27: Samina Ismail Hirani, Kiran Amin and Kinza Murtaza — all students of the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School — clinched first, second and third positions in Grade A-1, respectively, as the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) announced the intermediate (class XII) science (pre-medical) annual examination 2012 results here on Monday.

Samina Ismail Hirani got Grade A-1 with 984 marks out of 1,100 marks and her percentage was 89.45, Kiran Amin got 982 marks and her percentage remained 89.27 and Kinza Murtaza got 976 marks and her percentage stood at 88.72.

The rest of the seven candidates who bagged the top 10 positions also saw their names published in a gazette.

“We wanted all 10 students to be in the limelight as they are the better 10 of the top 20 candidates,” said BIEK chairman Prof Anwar Ahmed Zai while speaking at a programme organised to introduce the successful candidates to the media at the BIEK head office.

“Although all the top three candidates belong to the same private institution, and happen to be girls, the forth one is from a government college and is a boy,” he said referring to Adeel Ahmed Khan of the Adamjee Government Science College, who got 973 out of 1,100 marks and his percentage stood at 88.45,” he said.

About the gender ratio, he said that 70 per cent of students in pre-medical were girls while 30 per cent were boys.

“This is an issue that may concern the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council when the young doctors after doing their MBBS go out in the field. It is good that girls are getting ahead on merit, but there is also a huge need for male doctors, especially in the interior of Sindh,” said Prof Zai.

The BIEK has announced the results three weeks ahead of the scheduled time, which is Sept 15.

“We could have even done this before Aug 27 but we wanted all students to celebrate Eid before finding out if they passed or failed, which could have made Eid for some more joyous while ruining it for the ones who failed,” he said, adding that the reason behind being able to announce the results ahead of time was the computerisation of the system.

“The computerised system has enabled us to scan and print students’ pictures on enrolment cards and we will also be doing the same for admit cards soon. It has helped us prevent duplication of some 108 students at colleges so far,” he said.

Another thing that they said they did to ensure quicker results was to not allow any practical examinations to be carried out after July 16 so that the results could be determined alongside the written exams.

Prof Zai also expressed the hope that the pre-engineering results would be announced by Monday next week.

Replying to the media’s questions, Samina Ismail Hirani, who stood first in the exams, said that she chose to appear in the BIEK despite having the choice of the Aga Khan Board because she had done Matric from the Karachi board.

Replying to a question about her study routine, she said that she had been studying for four hours after college every day with a break after two hours but never took any tuitions.

About her future, Ms Hirani, whose parents are doctors, said that she intended to apply to the Dow University of Health Sciences or the Aga Khan University after which she hoped to specialise in oncology.

Kiran Amin, who stood second, said that she was not disappointed that she missed the top position by just two marks.

She said that her father was an accountant with a bank and her mother a housewife and the DUHS was her only choice for admission due to being more affordable.

Kinza Murtaza, who bagged the third position, also said that she was fine with missing the top two positions. About her future plans, she said that she wanted to become a cardiologist after doing her MBBS.

A total of 13,682 female candidates were registered for the pre-medical examinations and 13,542 of them appeared in the exams and a total of 7,919 passed.

A total of 3,271 male candidates were registered while 3,195 of them appeared and only 1,397 passed in the exams.

The grading formula saw 80 per cent pass in Grade A-1, 70 to 79.99 per cent in Grade A, 60 to 69.99 per cent in Grade B, 50 to 59.99 per cent in Grade C, 40 to 49.99 per cent in Grade D and 33 to 39.99 per cent in Grade E while the rest, which are less than 33 per cent failed.