West Bengal ICSE success rate 99.98%, girls outshine boys

KOLKATA: The ICSE results in the state could not reach a 100% pass figure that the Delhi NCR region was able to exhibit as the results were declared by the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations on Saturday.
The pass percentage of the state in ICSE is 99.98%. It is higher than that of ISC in the state (99.63), though, the scores of the ICSE school toppers in Kolkata have been a shade lower than that of ISC where almost every school topper has impressed with a 99-plus score. On an average, the ICSE toppers in the city have scored in the 96%-98% range.
The 100% pass results of ICSE from the Delhi NCR region reminds one of the recently declared Madhyamik results where nearly 11 lakh candidates were all declared passed. This had led educationists to debate whether such a system is a result of inflation of marks caused due to applying a formula to calculate marks on the basis of certain hypothesis, since the written exam did not happen. Some academics, however, felt that these scores are not of supreme importance for ICSE students because they will not go beyond the portals of school education immediately and will still have two years to study and prove themselves.
A total of 39,520 students appeared for ICSE in the state from 391 schools. Girls with a pass percentage of 99.99 have scored better than boys (99.97%). Seven boys and two girls have been unsuccessful in the ICSE exams.
Arjun Jhunjhunwala, Arjoe Basak and Arihant Satpati from Don Bosco Park Circus have scored 99.4%, 99.2% 99%, respectively. Pranjal Sengupta of Rammohan Mission has scored 99.2%. “My dream is to pursue physics and go for research,” he said. Most other toppers scored 98-plus.
Adya Agarwal of La Martiniere for Girls has scored 98.8% along with three toppers of St Xavier’s Collegiate School, Shobhit Bandhu, Sugata Sen and Aryan Ghosh, and the topper of Heritage School, Naina Agarwal. “It’s too early to say what I wish to become but as of now I will be pursuing science and I hope to study engineering after my Plus II,” Arjun said. The ICSE topper from St Augustine’s Shyamnagar, Rishav Sarma Sarkar, has scored 98.4% and Anwesha Ghoshal of MP Birla Foundation has scored 98.2%.
Some school principals felt that while 99-plus was the equalised score of most ISC toppers, in case of ICSE, a large number of toppers exhibited the 98.8 score. The variation of marks that a pen and paper exam makes possible goes missing in case of marks calculated on the basis of a statistical formula where there is enough scope for generalisations.