Mita Mukherjee

The West Bengal Class XII board examination was declared on Thursday with record 97.69 per cent pass percentage but showed a drop in number of students scoring above 80 per cent marks.

Last year the pass percentage stood at 90.13.

The West Bengal Higher Secondary  (Class XII) examination had to be cancelled this year due to the pandemic situation and students were evaluated based on their performance in Class X board examinations, marks of Class XI annual examinations and Class XII practical and project work.

The heads of at least five schools said the number of students scoring 90 per cent and more in aggregate in their institutions had decreased.

This year 9,013 candidates have scored over 90 per cent in aggregate. As many as, 30,220 scored the same marks last year.

The number of students scoring between 80 to 89 per cent marks in aggregate has also reduced this time.

As many as 49,390 students have scored between 80 and 89 per cent this time. Last year 84,746 students had scored above 80 per cent but less than 90 in aggregate.

This year no merit was published because the examination could not be held, Mahua Das, president, West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education said declaring the results.   

But according to her the student who has scored the highest in aggregate is a girl from minority community of Murshidabad district in Bengal. She has scored 499 out of 500.

In 2020 there were at least four top scorers and all four students had scored 499 out of 500.

Some school heads said the formula adopted by the council this year to assess the students in the absence of the board exam could be the reason for the 7.56 per cent jump in the pass percentage. The evaluation policy could be the reason also for the decline in number of high scorers, according to the heads.

The council had given 60 percent weightage on students’ performance in Class XI annual examinations for evaluating the students this time.  

According to some heads this could be the reason for the fall in the number of top scorers because most schools, especially the reputable ones, are usually very strict with checking Class XI annual examination answer scripts. The strict marking is done to help students in preparing for the finals.

“Many students of my school who were expecting to get more than 95 per cent have got in 80 s. Our teachers are strict in correcting the Class XI annual exam papers. We followed the same policy even for this batch. Many of our students who are very bright and were expecting in high 90s have scored less because of their low scores in the Class XI annual exams,” said the headmaster of a school in south Kolkata.

In all, 319, 327 students have scored above 60 per cent in aggregate this time which is “little less” than last year, council president Das said.

As many as 819,202 students had enrolled for the Class XII examinations this time.

The students could see their results on the net or through text messages. The mark sheets and certificates will be distributed to the guardians from the respective school on Friday.

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