RANCHI: Despite being a 'Naxal hotspot' and witnessing incessant disturbances due to 'Patthalgadi' activities, Khunti district retains the top position for the second consecutive year with 92.51 per cent pass per cent in Intermediate Arts results, declared by Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) on Wednesday.
Interestingly, Lohardaga, another Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected district of Jharkhand, remained on the second position with 90.60 per cent pass per cent. "Khunti, once again has topped the list with 92.51 per cent pass per cent, while Lohardga stands second with 90.60 per cent," said JAC Chairman Arvind Singh. Interestingly, the pass percentage of Khunti district has increased by 2.10 per cent this year as compared to the pass per cent of 90.4 last year, he added. "It's really amazing that the two worst LWE affected districts of Jharkhand have performed far better than those which are considered peaceful districts," said Singh. Godda remains on the bottom with 38.57 per cent pass percentage, he added.
Deputy Commissioner Suraj Kumar, reacting on the outstanding performance of Khunti, said that the children have proved that the backward tag attached with the district did not affect their performance at all. "They have proved that they can demonstrate their competence at any forum and have been working hard to get connected with the developments being brought in the field of education all over the Country," said the DC.
It is a live example of what happens when the do or die culture of tribal population is honed in a positive direction, he added. Besides hard work done by students and efforts made by district administration to achieve the target, Kumar also attributed this achievement to the interventions made by CINI Tata Trust and LEADs under their Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes and extended support to more than 400 schools making it possible to retain top position in Intermediate Arts. Remarkably, pass percentage of 86.66 per cent was registered for the State Capital Ranchi while overall pass percentage for the entire State was recorded as 72.62 per cent with an increase of 0.67 per cent as compared to last year in Inter -Arts stream.