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SSC results: Maharashtra records best success rate in over a decade
Mumbai division recorded a higher success rate than the state in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Examinations, results of which were announced on Monday.
Breaking past records both Maharashtra state and Mumbai division recorded the highest success rate in more than a decade in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations, 2015-16, results of which were announced on Monday, with the pass rate for fresh candidates crossing the 90% mark for the first time.
The new criteria that allows students to combine marks in all languages to pass in the subjects and the 80:20 evaluation pattern in which 20 marks for practicals, oral exams were given internally by schools, worked its magic to improve the pass percentage, but students’ performance still lagged behind CBSE, ICSE students.
Out of the 3,80,588 students (freshers and repeaters) who appeared for the exam from the Mumbai division including Thane and Raigad, 3,27,798 students passed, raising the pass percentage to 86.13%-the highest in 11 years at least. Last year, the percentage had touched soared 83.04%, from 79.1% in 2013. Similarly, the state’s pass percentage jumped by 5.9% from last year to 87.7%.
A good showing by the fresh candidates resulted in 92.9% pass rate for freshers in Mumbai division and 91.4% for Maharashtra. This is unlike the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) results in which the repeater candidates had performed better than freshers. This still couldn’t match pass rates of CBSE, which were 99.46% and 99.72% for ICSE in Maharashtra.
“This is the first time that Mumbai division has recorded over 90% results,” said Laxmikant Pande, divisional chairperson of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE). “As many as 64% students have scored above 60%.”
Fifteen-year old, Abdul Khimani from Palghar was one of the highest scorers in the division with 97.8%. “I was so overwhelmed on hearing of my results that I dropped the phone,” said Khimani, studying in Twinkle Star English High School. He secured 99 out of 100 in four subjects including mathematics and science and 93 in the rest.
However, ICSE and CBSE students had higher scores, with some students scoring over 99%. In contrast, barely 500 more students scored above 90% this year from Mumbai division. On the other hand, number of students scoring below 45%, securing a pass class, has increased by 9,000 this year, comprising of 11.25% of the total students.
Academicians fear that this will put state board students at a disadvantage during results. “Top seats in colleges will be taken by non-state board students,” said Manju Nichani, principal, KC College, Churchgate. “Cut-offs will rise by 2% in bifocal science streams.”
