Girls shine again in Class 12, 91.5% pass against boys' 85%

After last year's performance touched a 4-year low, CBSE Std 12 results, which were announced on Monday, saw a marginal improvement in performance across the country with close to 88% of the 16.2 lakh students who appeared clearing it. Maharashtra, which is part of the Pune region, bettered its show by 2.7%, registering a pass rate of 89.8%. Girls (91.5%) again outshone boys (85.1%) across India.While Santacruz Podar School boy Arnav Kamath was the top scorer in science in Mumbai with 99.2%, Samridhi Bhutia (98.6%) and Rohan Yadav (98.8%) from Kharghar's Bal Bharati Public School and Nerul's Apeejay School were the top scorers in humanities and commerce.
CBSE Class 12 success rate up a tad to 88% after hitting 4-yr low in 2023 | page
After recording the lowest success rate in four years in 2023, the CBSE Class 12 results announced on Monday saw a marginal increase across the country.
Close to 88% of the 14.3 lakh students who appeared for the exam cleared it. Maharashtra, which is part of the Pune region, witnessed a 2.7% improvement in its performance compared with the previous year. Nationally, 1.16 lakh students have scored more than 90%-close to 8% of the total students and 4,000 more than in 2023.
City-based student from Santacruz's Podar School Arnav Kamath is among the top scorers who got 99.4% in science, whereas humanities and commerce high scorers Samridhi Bhutia and Rohav Yadav are from Kharghar's Bal Bharati Public School and Nerul's Apeejay schools respectively.
CBSE regions across the country are divided into 17, with the addition of Vijayawada. Pune, comprising Maharashtra, Goa, Daman and Diu, stands ninth among the regions. While there has been an increase in schools in the country, in Maharashtra, the number is consistent. Pune region recorded a success rate of 89.8%-a 2.5% increase from last year. Girls have outperformed boys yet again in the exam with a success rate of 91.5%, though the latter are more in number. Class 12 exams were held over 47 days. Next year Class 12 exams will be held from Feb 15, according to a board statement.
Though the success rates are similar to last year across schools, principals alleged there has been a drop in the aggregate scores of students owing to the change in assessment pattern-with more focus on conceptual learning and application-based questions.
Seema Maindiratta, principal of DAV International School, Kharghar, said the aggregate scores of students are not as good as the previous year. "Many schools have seen a drop in their high scorers. The aggregate scores of students have gone down because of subjects such as mathematics, applied mathematics and accountancy. There is a change in pattern and students require more guidance and training in the new pattern. There are more competency-based questions and application-based questions," said Maindiratta, adding schools will have to change teaching methodologies in the coming years.
Avnita Bir, director-principal of R N Podar School, said, "CBSE question papers under the new pattern were challenging. It made clear to students that they cannot learn superficially anymore and will have to understand their concepts and apply them. The papers were balanced, and even MCQ questions were challenging. I feel the evaluation has become stricter which is a good thing."
D P S Public School, Nerul, has recorded the best results among all their other branches. Principal H S Vashishtha said close to 60% of the batch of 251 scored above 90, a significant increase from the previous year's 51%. The average score, too, has gone up to 89.7% from last year's 88.4%. Vashishtha agreed that students' performance in science and mathematics is affected with the new pattern, especially in the Pune region, though their scores in social studies and other subjects have improved. "In the multiple-choice questions, answers can only be right or wrong and understanding the concepts is a must," he said.