CHENNAI: City corporation schools registered a pass percentage of 80.08 while government schools in the state recorded a pass percentage of 85.75 in class 11 examination on Tuesday. Pass percentage of boys in corporation schools stood at 70.98 and girls at 87.24.
Keerthika V of Pulla Avenue Girls High School secured 592 out of 600, the highest among all corporation school students. She also scored the highest marks last year in the class 10 board exams in corporation schools (497). Her father, Venkatesan P, works as a tailor in a garments factory. The family resides in Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board tenements in TP Chatram.
“My family members have always thrown their support behind me. They ensure my focus is only on studies and I don’t have to worry about anything else. My elder brother is in first year of college and my parents have taken out a loan for his education,” she said. Keerthika wants to prepare for civil services exams after completing her studies.
The city corporation has 35 higher secondary schools in Chennai, from which 5,607 students appeared for the exam in total. Of these, 4,490 students cleared the exams. While no corporation school secured a 100% pass, the Nungambakkam Girl’s Higher Secondary School continued its good performance streak this year with a 96.1% pass. The Appasamy street and Thiruvanmiyur Higher Secondary Schools also performed well with 94.74% and 94.61% respectively.
In all, seven students scored centum of which three are in computer science, two in computer applications, one in commerce and one in science. A total of 25 students scored 551 and 111 students scored between 501 and 551.
Talking about results in corporation schools, a headmaster said on condition of anonymity, “It would not be fair to compare the results in corporation schools with others. There is definitely room for improvement but our students are mostly from urban poor families and some others from broken, dysfunctional families. If these students study with us for at least a period of four to five years, we are able to improve their comprehension and learning abilities as a whole. But, many of our students are moving in and out, depending on their parents’ income. As soon as the parents experience any upward financial mobility, they start thinking about private matriculation schools and move their children there.”