CHENNAI: The class 10 pass percentage in corporation schools in the city has again fallen short of the overall state average. While the state average stood at 91.55%, the corporation schools managed only 79.1%, which is slightly lower than last year’s figure of 79.60%.
Official sources said that while many corporation schools in the core city area fared better than last year, the schools that were handed over to the corporation from extended areas performed poorly, bringing down the overall pass percentage.
The schools, in extended areas, that were functioning under the school education department were handed over to the city corporation in 2023. The teachers in these schools were given the option to shift to other government schools to continue working under the school education department, or to remain with their existing schools and work under the city corporation. A large number of teachers chose the former.
“When the schools in extended areas were handed over to us, some had very few teachers. In one school in Athipattu, 21 teachers had chosen to leave. By the time we filled most vacancies through the temporary SMCs (School Management Committee) and by bringing in teachers from other districts, it was already September,” said a senior official.
This transition, said school staff in extended areas, could have led to them performing poorly. Canal Bank High School and Rangarajapuram High School registered a 100% pass.
Apart from these, West Mambalam Higher Secondary School, Girls Higher Secondary School in Nungambakkam, and the high schools in Kannammapet, Strahans Road, Padi Kuppam and Kamaraj Avenue performed well in terms of pass percentage. A total of 33 students scored centums of which 24 were in Mathematics.
Meeting called to analyse score
In 2019, the corporation schools scored a pass percentage of 92.3 in class 10. However, it was still lower than the state’s 95.17% that year. “We are meeting with representatives of the schools which have not done well and we will be coming up with a detailed analysis this week,” said a corporation official.