CHENNAI: Around 90.07% of students cleared the Plus 1 HSE examinations as results were announced in Tamil Nadu on Monday. This year’s pass percentage is the lowest compared to the past four years. Parents and teachers attribute the dip in the pass percentage to the pandemic and a time crunch to finish the syllabus. While the pass percentage was 91.3% in 2018, it rose to 95% in 2019 and 96.4% in 2020.
In 2021, it was 100% as every student was passed due to the Covid-19 situation. “There was ambigui ty around whether the exams will be conducted or not. Many students thought the exams would not be held and did not prepare. The main cause for the fall in pass percentage is the pandemic,” said Tamil Nadu Private Schools Parents Association president S Killivalavan.
The absentee rate also rose from 1.29% in 2020 to 4.67% this year. As many as 41,376 students did not attend. Totally, 8.43 lakh students appeared for the exam, of which 7.59 lakh passed. Girls outperformed boys by 10.13%. “Class 11 students did not write exams for Class 9 and 10 due to Covid-19.
This is the first time in three years that they had to write an exam the primary reason for the dip in pass percentage. Also, schools opened five months late, compared to usual academic schedules. Teachers had three months to complete the whole syllabus,” said P Patrick Raymond, general secretary of the TN Graduate Teachers Federation.
Course-wise, the highest pass percentage was recorded in science (93.73%), followed by commerce (85.73%), then arts (72.49%) and vocational (76.15%). The highest number of centums was recorded in computer application (2,186), followed by accounts (2,163) and computer Science (873). Geography, history and home science recorded one centum each. District-wise, Permabalur recorded the highest pass percentage at 96.56%. This is followed by Virudhunagar at 95.44% and Madurai at 95.25%.
