HSC exams: State, Mumbai division record improved success rates

Around 88% of Class 12 students who wrote the state’s Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams this year passed, a jump of 4.51 percentage points from last year,

Around 88% of Class 12 students who wrote the state’s Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams this year passed, a jump of 4.51 percentage points from last year, even as Mumbai division slipped to the last position among the nine divisions in the state.

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The Mumbai division, which also consists of Thane, Raigad and Palghar, recorded a success rate of 85.83%, a jump of 5.25 percentage points from 2019, as the number of top scorers, too, went up. Konkan division stood first with a 95.74% success rate.

The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) declared the HSC results at 1pm on Thursday. Over 15 lakh students had appeared for the exams which were conducted in February and March. Of these, 3.38 lakh students were from Mumbai division alone.

Both the city and state saw a significant jump in the number of students scoring 90% and above, thus indicating a tough competition for seats in coveted colleges of the city during the coming days. In the state, 7,344 students scored 90% and above, a jump of 64% from 2019.

In the Mumbai division, 3,109 students managed to achieve the feat, thus seeing a rise of about 41% as compared to the previous year.

Shakuntala Kale, chairperson of the state board said overall scores of students had risen this year. “This year, the paper pattern for science had changed with more options for physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology, and a lot of students might have benefitted from the change. It is a good sign that the results have improved,” added Kale.

The Arts stream saw the biggest spike in pass percentage across all streams. It recorded a 78.35% success rate as compared to 72.75% in 2019. Science and commerce streams recorded 95.30% and 88.56%, a jump of 3-4 percentage points from last year. “Over the last few years, many high scorers even from other boards are coming to the Arts stream. Students from the other boards were earlier not used to the HSC pattern, but over the years, even colleges have realised how to train them for the format of the board exams, which might be a reason for the stream’s overall performance,” said Ashok Wadia, principal, Jai Hind college, Churchgate.

At St Andrew’s College, Bandra, a 100% result was recorded for both Arts and Commerce streams. “Until a few years ago, Arts was the last choice for students, but now more students are opting for the course and faring better, which is a very good sign,” said Marie Fernandes, principal of the college.