Maharashtra logs best HSC results since 2015; 90% club up 65%

MUMBAI: After a dip last year, the state’s Higher Secondary Certificate examination results for Class XII announced on Thursday made a sharp recovery to their best since 2015. The number of students scoring 90s in the state and the city, too, rose nearly 65% and 40%, respectively.

Maharashtra’s success rate for both fresh and repeat candidates rose to 86.7% from 83.1% last year. Of the 15 lakh students who took the exams in the state, 7,344 scored above 90% compared with 4,470 last year. A chunk of the students, at 3,109, are from Mumbai division, which includes Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar. The board does not announce a merit list.
While a changed paper pattern allowed the science stream’s success rate to touch 95.3% from 91.1% last year, that in the arts stream was 78.4%, up 5.6% from 2019. Several colleges reported a surge in scores among arts students. Consequently, competition for undergraduate courses is expected to remain fierce as their peers from CBSE and ISC improved their performance this time too.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the board has moved online for all re-evaluation processes. The board will most likely cancel the supplementary exams, which are usually conducted in July-August.