The results for the Class XII CBSE examinations released on Monday morning for the Chennai Region, show a slight increase in the pass percentage of students. The region, which covers six states and four union territories also saw substantial increase in the number of students taking the examination over the last year. The results also stuck to the trend of girls securing a higher pass percentage than boys.
A total of 77,616 students took the CBSE Class XII examination in 2013 in the Chennai Region, which comprises Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Daman & Diu. This is a whopping 14.64 per cent increase over the 67,707 students who appeared for the examinations last year.
The overall pass percentage of these students was 91.83 per cent, a rise of 1.24 percentage points over last year. Of this, boys secured a pass percentage of 90.07 percentage (increase of 1.2 percentage points) and girls clocked 93.92 per cent (increase of 1.25 percentage points).
Goa topped the overall pass percentage race in the Chennai Region with 98.87 per cent, and a 100 per cent pass percentage among girls. Karnataka came second with 97.43 per cent. At the bottom of the pass percentage table were Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, with 64.86 per cent and 65.68 per cent respectively.
Interestingly, in only two places did more boys pass than girls. These were Lakshadweep (73.33 per cent vs 59.09 per cent) and Daman & Diu (94.81 per cent vs 88.24 per cent.)
In both these places, the pass percentage of girls was more than that of boys last year.
Kerala, which is the largest state in terms of the number of students facing the CBSE Class XII examinations, accounted for 46.46 per cent of the total number of students appearing in the Chennai Region. This state saw a pass percentage of 92.9 per cent, with boys and girls securing pass percentages of 90.31 per cent and 95.63 per cent respectively.
CBSE’s Regional Officer DT Sudarshan Rao told Express that the Chennai Region was seeing rapid expansion in the number of schools applying for CBSE affiliation. “The trend is a very rapid increase in the number of schools applying for affiliation. We are receiving at least 20 to 30 applications every months from the Chennai Region,” he said.
He added that the rise in the number of students facing the examinations this year was due to a rise in the number off schools upgrading themselves from high schools to higher secondary schools.