Students wait at an internet cafe for their results. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre)
If you are amazed at how students managed to score as much as 99.9 per cent in the recently-announced CBSE and ICSE examination results, wait till you hear the results of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination, declared on Friday by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE). Of the 16.28 lakh students who appeared for the SSC exam, 125 students scored 100 per cent.
This is the third consecutive year in which students of state board have been scoring 100 per cent after the board started awarding students for excelling in fields like sports, arts and culture. Last year, 193 students had scored 100 per cent, while 39 students had scored 100 per cent in 2016.
Among the nine divisions across the state, Latur division has the highest number of 100 per cent scorers, with 70 such students. No other division came even remotely close. Aurangabad was in the second place with 23 such students. Pune and Mumbai division had four such students each.
Even the number of students who scored above 90 per cent this year — 63,331 — was considerably higher. Last year, 48,870 students got more than 90 per cent.
Education experts said that such a jump in the number of high scorers could be attributed to the large number of students who have taken benefit of the various ‘quotas’ for extra marks. This year, extra marks are being awarded for students who have done well in drawing as well.
Of the 16,28,613 regular candidates who appeared for exams across the state, 14,56,203 passed, bringing the total pass percentage to 89.41. The pass percentage for this year has improved marginally — by 0.67 per cent — compared to last year’s pass percentage of 88.74 per cent, said Shakuntala Kale, chairperson, MSBSHSE.
Differently-abled students fared well this year — of the 7,805 students who appeared for the exam, 6,780 passed, bringing the pass percentage to 86.87.
The board conducts the exams across nine divisions of Pune, Mumbai, Latur, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Amravati and Konkan. Konkan topped the list, with a 96 per cent pass percentage, while Nagpur division was at the bottom with 85.97 per cent pass percentage.
Girls fared better than boys as 91.97 per cent, i.e. 6,82,864 of the 7,42,507 who appeared for the exam, passed. Among boys, 87.27 per cent — 7,73,339 of 8,86,106 who appeared — passed.
In Class X, students wrote exams for 57 subjects, of which 11 subjects had 100 per cent results. Students had appeared for the exams from 21,957 schools, of which 4 028 schools had 100 per cent pass percentage, while in 33 schools, none of the students passed.