BHUBANESWAR: Year after year, Ravenshaw higher secondary school (HSS) continues to be the most sought-after destination when it comes to education at Plus-II level. As per the first cut-off and merit list for admission of students in the 2023-24 academic session released by the Directorate of Higher Secondary Education (DHSE) on Thursday, the institution has posted the highest cut-off in the streams of Science, Arts and Commerce this year. Interestingly, government higher secondary schools at Rourkela, Bhawanipatna and Bankuli have this year made it to the list of top-10 institutions posting the highest cut-off in Arts and Commerce streams.
In Science, while Ravenshaw has sought a cut-off of 91.6 per cent, the second highest percentage of 90 has been posted by Fakir Mohan higher secondary school at Balasore. BJB in Bhubaneswar has sought 89 per cent followed by 86.8 per cent by Upendranath HSS at Soro and 86.6 per cent by JKBK at Cuttack.
In Arts stream, Ravenshaw has again posted the highest percentage of 80 for first phase admission followed by Government HSS at Rourkela at 79 per cent. DAV school at Titlagarh has sought a percentage of 78.6 followed by 78 per cent by Fakir Mohan HSS at Balasore and 77.5 per cent by Government higher secondary school at Bhawanipatna.
In Commerce too, Ravenshaw has sought 79.2 per cent. Similarly, Government HSS in Rourkela and BJB HSS have posted cut-off percentages of 77.3 and 73 respectively. JKBK and Shailabala women’s HSS have sought 72.2 and 72.1 per cent respectively.
However, the cut-off in almost all the higher secondary schools across the state including Ravenshaw has dipped by 3 to 5 per cent this year. In the 2022-23 academic session, the highest cut-off for Science was 94.3 per cent and that for Arts 83.5 while for Commerce, it was 84.1 per cent. This year, the pass percentage of HSC examination stood at 96.4 while it was 90.5 per cent in 2022. Official sources said although the pass percentage increased, more students were placed in lower grades which is why the cut-off percentage came down. As per reports, 4,158 students had scored A1 grade but 29,838 were placed in A2 grade, 77,567 in B1 and 1,18,750 students scored B2 grade.
As per reports of DHSE, 4.72 lakh students had applied for admission to higher secondary schools through the Students Academic Management System in the new academic session and of them, 4.12 lakh have been selected for the first phase admission. Once again, Arts stream has got maximum allotments in the first round of admission this year with 2.53 lakh students, followed by the Science with 1.21 lakh allotments and only 25,168 allotments in Commerce. Over 3.89 lakh students from Board of Secondary Education, Odisha, got placed in the first merit list.
Of the students selected for admission, two lakh are girls. DHSE officials informed that 59,911 students have not been selected for first phase admissions as they had opted for higher secondary schools where their secured mark is less than the cut-off.
These students will be considered during the second and spot selection admissions. The second merit list will be published on July 19 and classes will begin from August 1.