A total of 8,788 students of Chennai Schools, who took the class X examinations this year passed, and pushed up the pass percentage to 91.47 from last year’s 86.94 per cent.
The results indicated that in a continuing trend, girls scored more than boys. The pass percentage of girls was 93.7 per cent.
All girls from 26 of the 70 schools run by the Chennai Corporation passed, but boys from only 15 schools managed to clear their papers.
The number of students who obtained centums has also seen a quantum jump with 258 scoring full marks in various subjects, compared to just 18 last year.
The first rank-holder among Chennai Schools, S. A. Salma Haseena, who scored 491, does not watch TV as she believes television “offers nothing useful.” Her father, a junior engineer with Southern Railway said he encouraged his children to read newspapers and listen to the news on the radio.
She was closely followed by Chennai-born Malayalee, Nissi Mariam Abraham, who scored 490. “Her teachers were very helpful and were available at all times for anything,” said Jolly Abraham, her mother, a laboratory technician.
K. Yuvarani, the daughter of Kanniappan, a carpenter, too came in second.
Four students — D. Mercy Jebarani, W. Jebaselvi, M. Vijay and B. Boobalan — shared the third rank with scores of 488/500.
