Girls shine yet again in CBSE 12th, 91.5% pass to boys' 85% - Times of India

Source: The Times of India
Author: Hemali Chhapia, Shreya Ghosh

NEW DELHI: The success rate in the Central Board of Secondary Education Class XII examinations, 2024, results of which were published on Monday, was 87.9%, a marginal increase from last year's 87.3%. A total of 24,068 students managed an aggregate score of above 95%.

While fewer candidates sat for the exams this year, number of those who scored over 90% in aggregate climbed from last year's 1.12 lakh to 1.16 lakh or around 8% of the total examinees.

Girls outperformed boys, recording a success rate of 91.5% against 85.1% for the latter. The highest girl pass percentages were recorded in Panchkula (93.9%), Patna (89.1%), Noida (87.1%) and Dehradun (88.4%).

Thiruvananthapuram topped among the 17 CBSE regions with a pass percentage of 99.9%, followed by the newly-created Vijayawada region, Chennai and Bengaluru. The capital, divided into the Delhi West and Delhi East regions, had a cumulative success rate of 95.6%. CBSE did not release the toppers' list to "avoid unhealthy competition". However, a merit certificate has been deposited in the mandatory digilockers of students who obtained the highest marks in various subjects.

Among institutional groups, the pass percentage of schools run by the Central Tibetan School Administration was the highest at 99.2%. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas recorded a success rate of 98.9% and Kendriya Vidyalayas, 98.8%. Govt-aided schools had a pass rate of 91.4%, govt schools 88.2.%, independent schools had the lowest pass percentage of 87.7%. More than 1.2 lakh students got compartmental results, a marginal decrease from last year. Pass percentage of CBSE schools in foreign countries was 95.8%.

Sanyam Bharadwaj, CBSE (examination controller), said, "Percentage of students scoring 90% has decreased in comparison with the past few years mainly due to the different examination system adopted during Covid period."

Sentiment positive -- across the board

The capital, which is divided into the Delhi West and Delhi East regions, had a cumulative success rate of 95.6%.

Among institutional groups, the pass percentage of schools run by the Central Tibetan School Administration was the highest at 99.2%. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas recorded a success rate of 98.9% and Kendriya Vidyalayas, 98.8%. Govt-aided schools had a pass rate of 91.4% and govt schools 88.2.%. Independent schools had the lowest pass percentage of 87.7%.

More than 1.2 lakh students got compartmental results, a marginal decrease from last year. The pass percentage of CBSE schools in foreign countries was 95.8%.

Sanyam Bharadwaj, CBSE (examination controller), said, "The percentage of students scoring 90% has decreased in comparison with the past few years mainly due to the different examination system adopted during the Covid period of 2020-2022. The evaluation then had been based on the performance in classes X, XI and the XII pre-board exams, where students typically scored higher. However, data of 2019 and earlier years show a similarity to this year's figures."

Alka Kapur, principal, Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh, said, "Both Class X and Class XII students in Delhi have performed outstandingly. The schools now believe in a holistic approach to education, nurturing not only academic achievements but also the students' growth through co-curricular activities."

Avnita Bir, director-principal of RN Podar School, Mumbai, said, "The challenging question papers made clear to students that they can no longer learn superficially but need to understand concepts and apply them."

Across India, the total number of CBSE Class XII schools went up by 1,700 to 18,417 in 2024, though the student population slid to 16.2 lakh from 16.6 lakh in 2023. There were 7,126 exam centres, the most in the Ajmer region (672) and the fewest in Bengaluru (164). Five new subjects were introduced in Class XII: the Kokborok tribal language of Tripura, design thinking and innovation, physical activity trainer, land transportation associate and electronics and hardware.

An impressive 3,990 candidates achieved a perfect score in English, the highest among all core subjects. The sciences also saw a high number of high scorers, with chemistry leading the way with full marks for 2,152 students. Psychology followed closely with 2,097 students achieving the same feat.

In the non-core subjects, painting had a remarkable 6,126 students obtaining a hundred. In informatics practice, 1,473 students did the same, while in music, 1,462 students got full marks for Hindi vocals. Artificial Intelligence, an emerging subject, saw 218 students scoring a round century, a testament to the growing interest in this cutting-edge field.

The roll of dishonour was topped by the Prayagraj region, where 11 cases of using unfair means during examinations were detected. The others on the list were Panchkula (7), Chennai (7), Bhopal (6), Ajmer (3) and Noida (2).