Girls once again stole a march over boys in the Central Board of Secondary Education Class XII examination, results of which were announced on Wednesday.
Of 387,774 students who appeared in the Senior School Certificate Examination across the country this year, 76 per cent passed, an increase of 2.41 per cent from last year, Central Board of Secondary Education Chairman Ashok Ganguly told reporters in Delhi.
The percentage of girls who cleared the examination was much above that of boys -- 82.28 per cent as compared to 71.29 per cent.
In Delhi region, which covers all CBSE schools in Delhi and foreign countries, the difference was even higher -- 82.58 per cent for girls against 69.43 per cent for boys.
Results for Delhi and Allahabad regions, which include the national capital, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and foreign countries, were declared on Wednesday while those of Ajmer, Chennai, Chandigarh and Guwahati regions covering rest of the country were available to students on Sunday.
Chennai region, which includes all southern states, was the most successful region with a pass percentage of 90.51, followed by Ajmer, Chandigarh and Delhi at 75.75 per cent, Ganguly said.
The Kendriya Vidyalaya schools emerged the most successful as a group, with 92.62 per cent of students
clearing the examination, a record.
This was followed by Central Tibetans schools, which registered as a group this year, with a success rate of 86 per cent.
In Gulf countries, where 58 schools follow the CBSE pattern, 88.94 per cent of 5,858 students passed, with 29 per cent getting more than 75 per cent marks.
While Ganguly declined to give details of the topper as 'a matter of policy', he said 166 students got an aggregate of more than 95 per cent marks, 16 of whom were from Delhi.
As many as 2,826 students got over 90 per cent marks. Of them, 779 were from Delhi and 22 from government schools in the capital.
Ganguly said 3,231 merit certificates would be given to students who secured highest marks in individual subjects. Of them, 850 were from Delhi and 78 from government schools.
The CBSE chairman said 193 students had got cent per cent marks in Mathematics, of whom 46 were from Delhi.
Among the government schools in Delhi, the pass percentage was 77.82 per cent, a marginal increase from 77.09 per cent last year. Government-aided schools recorded a success rate of 77.15 per cent and independent schools 89.59 per cent.
As many as 578 physically challenged students appeared in the examination, of whom 87.6 per cent passed. The highest aggregate attained by a differently abled student was 93.1 per cent while a blind student got 80.8 per cent.
Ganguly attributed the higher success rate among girls to 'their ability to concentrate and focus more'.
About the success of students from government schools in the capital, he said their decision to train teachers in newer teaching methods seemed to have proved beneficial.
However, it was not rosy all the way with 43 students being caught using unfair means, of whom 20 were from Delhi.
For those who were unsuccessful, Ganguly had a word of advise. "You have to look beyond these results... there will be another innings to play," he said, asking parents to adopt a more supportive role.
About 12 per cent of the students will get yet another chance in the Compartmental Examination in July this year, he said.
With the results being posted on the CBSE websites www.cbse.nic.in, www.cbseresults.nic.in and www.results.nic.in at 6 am and for the first time being available through SMS services of certain mobile phone operators, there were no queues of students outside schools.
Results were also available on telephone numbers 24357270 and 24357274 in Delhi, 95-11-24357270 and 95-11-24357274 in NCR and 011-24357270 and 011-24357274 in other parts of the country.
Asked about the alleged suicide of a girl in Indore after she got wrong results through SMS, Ganguly said, "It was an unfortunate incident. Probably she typed her roll number incorrectly or the service provider made a mistake. Students should always double-check their results from schools."
Controller of Examinations Pavnesh Kumar said there were reports that a mobile operator in Delhi had made the results available even before they were announced officially at 6 am. "We will not provide them Class X results," he said.
Ganguly said the delay of 'a day or two' in announcement of results was because CBSE officials and examiners were busy with engineering entrance examinations which were resheduled due to Lok Sabha election.