Mohali: Education hub in laggards’ club

MOHALI: Continuing its poor show in the Class-X examinations of Punjab Education Board, the district has failed once again to break into top 15. When the results came out on Wednesday, Mohali was in bottom seven, with only seven merit positions.
In the competition for merit positions, Mohali stands 16th. Seven merit spots on a list of 323 would not have hurt, had the district not been promoted as an emerging education hub. Still it isn’t as bad as last year, when not a single student from the district was on the merit list. Ludhiana is number one in this race with 91 meritorious students.

An improved pass percentage was a saving grace. Of Mohali’s 8,246 candidates in the test, 7,120 managed to clear it. In the pass-percentage race, Mohali finished 10th, only a notch up from the 11th rank last year. This year, Mohali’s pass percentage was 86.34, while it was 66.94 in 2018. Pathankot has the best figure at 91.20.
District education officer (DEO) Himmat Singh said: “We have improved our pass percentage with hard work. The district has far fewer students than Ludhiana. If you see it from that perspective, you will find Mohali on top of the merit list.” The state board has also uploaded the list of toppers on its website.
The state’s pass percentage has got better by 30.06. Last year, the figure was 57.50, while it stands at 85.56 this year, highest in three years. Of 3.17-lakh examination warriors of Punjab, 2.71 lakh sailed through.