Chennai region touched a new high in CBSE’s class XII examination scores this year, with a pass percentage of 91.83, ranking first among the eight regions in the country.
The region’s pass percentage rose from 90.59 last year. Six states and four union territories comprise the Chennai region – Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Daman and Diu.
This year’s class XII results assume significance, as this was the first batch that came under the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) scheme.
D.T. Sudarshan Rao, regional officer, CBSE, Chennai Region, said the increase in pass percentage and reduction in the number of failures has allayed initial apprehensions about CCE. The number of students failing in the region has come down from 6.7 per cent in 2012 to 5.58 per cent in 2013, he said.
However, within the region, Tamil Nadu took a beating, as it ranked only fourth, well after Goa, Karnataka and Puducherry. Goa topped the region with a pass percentage of 98.87, while Tamil Nadu’s was 96.4. The State stands fourth among the seven states and three union territories in the region. Last year too, Tamil Nadu held the same spot.
Keeping 2012’s momentum going, girls in the region once again outdid boys with a pass percentage of 93.92 per cent as compared to 90.07 per cent secured by boys. Tamil Nadu too recorded a similar trend, with girls securing a pass percentage of 97.11 per cent, and boys 95.89.
Special candidates in the region recorded a pass percentage of 91.65 per cent. Of the 443 who wrote the exams, including visually impaired, hearing impaired, orthopaedically impaired, spastic and dyslexic students, 406 students made the cut. Of these, 20 students scored above 90 per cent.
The region also recorded the highest percentage of students who scored above 90 and 95 percent. While 11.8 per cent of students scored 90 per cent and above in 2013, 2.63 per cent of students scored 95 per cent and above.
The Bhubaneshwar region came a distant second with 6.93 students scoring 90 per cent and above, and 1.06 per cent scoring 95 per cent and above.
Private schools apart, Kendriya Vidyalayas in the region too, upped their ante. While the KVs here secured a pass percentage of 97.13, the pass percentage in the 34 CBSE schools in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry was 96.2, an increase from last year’s 95.7 per cent, but lower than the region’s average.
“Of these, 16 KVs have recorded a 100 per cent pass percentage. Since this was the first batch of students who went through CCE, we were anxious, but we are not disappointed. The scores in the pre-boards indicated that we could have scored more,” said N.R. Murali, deputy commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Chennai region.
