Schools run by the Delhi government saw a higher pass percentage than private schools in the Class XII Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) results that were announced on Sunday.
Though the percentage fell slightly compared to 2016, Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia said that it was for the second year in a row that government schools had outperformed private ones.
‘Matter of pride’
“All children studying in Delhi are ours, but it is a matter of pride that government schools have performed better than private school students,” said Mr. Sisodia.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also congratulated the students saying he was “proud of all teachers and principals.”
According to the CBSE results, the overall pass percentage in Delhi this year was 88.37% — a marginal increase from 87.01% in 2016.
Mr. Sisodia said that the pass percentage for private schools was 79.27%, down from 86.67% last year.
Zero tolerance for cheating
According to the Delhi government, students from around 1,100 of its schools fared almost the same as last year. The pass percentage fell slightly from 88.91% in 2016 to 88.27% this year, which Mr. Sisodia attributed to the strict measures taken to reduce cheating. “We had taken some tough decisions that we thought would bring down the pass percentage. After receiving reports about teachers helping students during exams, we stopped sending them while the exams were on,” said Mr. Sisodia.
He highlighted that despite zero tolerance for cheating, the government schools had done well. “We have spent a lot of money on education and trained our teachers in the last two years,” he said.
Mr. Sisodia added that government school students who had topped would be felicitated. Vikas Upadhyay, a student of the Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidalaya (RPVV) in Yamuna Vihar, topped the Science stream with 97.07%; Garvit Dang of RPVV (Shalimar Bagh) topped Commerce with 96.2%; Jyoti of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidalaya (SKV) Nangloi topped the Arts stream with 94.8%; and Harshita of SKV Dhansa topped Vocational stream with 93%.
Garvit told The Hindu that government schools were as good as private ones. “RPVVs are no less than any private school. I did not have to take additional coaching. Instead, I would approach my teachers for help,” he said, adding that he studied six to eight hours each day. With a father who runs a hosiery shop in Azadpur and a homemaker mother, Garvit plans to apply for B.Com (Hons.) to Delhi University and pursue Chartered Accountancy too.
