Girls at the Pakistani schools in the UAE have once again surpassed the boys. They not only got most of the top positions in the country, but also in their schools in the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC Part-II) examination of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) in Islamabad.

The overall performance of almost all the schools in the country has also improved with the high success rate. Two schools, the Sheikh Rashid Pakistan Higher Secondary School in Dubai and the Pakistan Higher Secondary School in Fujairah, could not announce their results yesterday as they had not been informed in time by the Board.

The HSSC (Intermediate) examination is the most important exam in a person's academic career in Pakistan. It decides the future course of his or her higher studies and, ultimately, professional career. "We were surprised to see results yesterday because we received a letter from the Board on August 16 that the results would be announced in a week's time," said an official of the school in Dubai.

The Pakistan Education Academy in Dubai performed best amongst schools in Dubai and the Northern Emirates with 96 per cent pass results. Out of 111 pupils – 54 boys and 57 girls who sat the examination – four boys failed.

Batool Mustafa Sayani of the pre-engineering stream came first in the UAE with 929 marks out of a possible 1,100. He also came third in the results of the Board itself which conducts the examinations for all Pakistani schools abroad and in Islamabad. Atif Mahmoodul Haq of the commerce stream came first in his stream in the UAE and second in the Board's results with 800 marks.

In the pre-medical group, Faraht Shoukat with 899 marks came first in the school amongst girls followed by Adila Aslam with 853, and Ayesha Ijaz with 846 marks stood at second and third positions in the school.

Amongst boys in the same stream, Farooq Khan came first in the school with 788 marks, Fahid Naseer came second with 722 and Mohammed Ali Farhan came third with 704. In the pre-engineering stream, Mohsin Ilyas came first in the school with 806 marks amongst the boys followed by Salman Khalid with 797 and Shoaib Ghafoor with 787. In the same stream, amongst girls, Shafaq Arif was first with 856 marks

In the commerce stream (girls), Nargis Mushtaq came first in the school with 771 marks, Sausan Khan came second with 771 marks and Sarosh Mukhtar was third with 716. In the same stream amongst boys, Shiraz Ali came first with 715 marks and Riaz Badsha was third with 685 marks.

Results provided by the Pakistan Islamia Higher Secondary School in Sharjah showed that a total of 182 pupils, 108 girls and 74 boys, sat the HSSC-II exam. The school achieved an 87.36 per cent result with a total of 159 successful pupils. Farheen Fatima of the school came third in the Board's results with 806 marks and she was second amongst girls in the UAE commerce stream.

In the pre-medical stream (girls), Sumiya Rashid with 908 marks came first in the school followed by Mehreen Zaman with 879 marks and Nida Kamran with 860 marks. In the same group amongst boys, Afreen Azam Khan came first in the school with 832 marks, Qaiser Hussain was second with 827 marks and Mohammed Samiullah Khan came third with 814 marks.

In the pre-engineering stream (girls), Sana Naim was first in the school with 829 marks, followed by Zainab Arif with 811 marks and Nilofar Azeem with 762. Zoheb Sarwar in the same stream was first amongst boys with 846 marks, Waqas Mohammed Zaheer came second with 804 and Waqas Zahoor came third with 786.

In the computer science stream, Nadia Rehmat Butt came first amongst girls in the school with 758 marks followed by Maisoon Khalid with 755 and Aisha Mohammed Zubair Butt with 725. Amongst boys in the same stream, Adeel Ajmal Khan came first with 776 marks, Nouman Nasir was second with 748 and Fahad Umar third with 745 marks.

In the commerce stream, Bismah Zaheer came first with 681 marks and Rabia Ashraf second with 680 marks. Usama Khaleeq Ahmed with 596 came first amongst boys in the same stream. In the humanities stream, Samia Bibi, who got 658 marks came first followed by Sadia Sethi with 644 and Tayyaba Batool with 623.

Twenty-five pupils at the Pakistan Islamia Higher Secondary School in Ajman sat the exam and 24 passed. Muniza Merchant who got 787 marks in the commerce group came first in the school. Rahat Yousaf with 764 and Huma Zahid with 757 marks came second and third in the school . Ayesha Taqiq with 816 marks came top of the girls in the Pakistan Higher Secondary School in Ras Al Khaimah. Zahra Rafiq with 791 marks and Siama Khadim with 746 marks came second and third.

Amongst boys at the same school, Haroon Rashid with 748 marks came first in the school followed by Omer Khan with 745 marks and Kazim Hussain with 679. Awais Mahmood Choudhary, a student of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Arab-Pakistan School in Abu Dhabi, has topped the school.

A spokesman of the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Arab-Pakistan School yesterday said Choudhary has got 899 marks. "Choudhary secured fourth position in the UAE," he added. The second and third positions in the school went to Saeed Ahmed (897 marks) and Muhammad Usman Hakeem (859), respectively. Among the girls, Maria Javaid came first with 848 marks.

She was followed by Kuratul Ain Butt with 847 and Maryam Idrees with 836 marks. The spokesman said the school's pass percentage in the examination is 100 per cent in science stream, 73.69 per cent in arts and 76.92 per cent in the general science section.