NEW DELHI: Girls outshone boys yet again in CBSE class XII examination results by a margin of over 9 per cent even, while the overall pass percentage dropped by over one per cent.
The pass percentage for girls in the results which were announced today was 87.50, while for boys it was 78 per cent.
However, the overall pass percentage dropped to 82 per cent from 83.05 per cent last year, according to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) officials.
Noida Girl Raksha Gopal emerged nation-wide topper in the exams with a whopping 99.6 per cent, while the second position was bagged by Chandigarh's Bhumi Sawant who scored 99.4 per cent mark.
Mannat Luthra and Aditya Jain, also from Chandigarh, jointly bagged the third rank with 99.2 per cent in commerce section.
Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar spoke to the toppers and congratulated them on their performance.
Trivandrum region recorded the highest pass percentage at 95.62 per cent followed by Chennai (92.60 per cent) and Delhi (88.37 per cent).
This year Delhi's performance improved by nearly one per cent as the national capital recorded a pass percentage of 87.01 per cent.
Government-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas performed the best with a pass percentage of 95.73 per cent, while the Kendriya Vidyalayas recorded 94.60 per cent success.
Private schools' pass percentage was the lowest at 79.27 per cent.
CBSE schools in foreign countries also recorded a pass percentage of 92.02 per cent.
This year, over 10,000 students scored 95 per cent or above, while 63,247 students scored more than 90 per cent.
The CBSE has also opened a helpline number for counselling of its students post results.
"65 counsellors will talk to students and parents on the helpline number between 8 am to 10 pm," a CBSE official said.
The board has also clarified that there will be no re-evaluation option and students can only apply for verification of marks.
Among the 10.2 lakh students who appeared for the exams, 8.37 lakh cleared them, while over one lakh have been placed for the 2017 compartment exams.
The exams were conducted between March 9 and April 29.
Anxiety and panic gripped students after the Delhi High Court had earlier this week ordered the board to continue with its moderation policy which was scrapped last month.
After contemplating moving the Supreme Court, the board decided against it as the process would have delayed the results further.
As on March 31 this year, CBSE has 18,694 schools in India and 211 schools in 25 foreign countries.
There are 1,117 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 2,720 government/aided Schools, 14,253 independent schools, 590 Jawahar Novodaya Vidyalayas and 14 Central Tibetan Schools.