Mumbai: Two city students are among national toppers in the ICSE and ISC board exams, results to which were declared on Monday. State schools performed well overall, recording high pass percentages: 99.81% for ICSE (Class X) and 98.71% for ISC (Class XII). Rishika Dhariwal from Jamnabai Narsee High School was one among four ranked second nationally in the ISC exam with 99.25% in Humanities, while Farzan Bharucha from Greenlawns High School, Breach Candy scored 99.2% to be ranked second nationally in the ICSE exam.
Rishika insists she did not spend all her time studying: she loves watching TV and chatting with friends during breaks. The exams, though, were important to her. “I want to study Psychology. There are no entrance exam for studying this subject, so it requires especially high marks in the board exam to gain admission. Treating the ISC exam like any other really helped me.”
Farzan Bharucha says he regularly topped his class. “We have been expecting high scores from him, but these results are something else,” his mother, Meheranjiz, said. She said Hindi was Farzan’s only weak subject, and she helped him prepare for the ICSE paper with detailed notes. Farzan is clear on what he wants to do: study at IIT and one day, start his own company.
Schools on a high
City schools reported higher percentages compared to the previous year. “Our average ISC result went up from 87% to 88%. We always focus on studying papers from past exams; this year, we also went over the syllabus in review sessions,” Zeenat Bhojabhoy, vice-principal, Jamnabai Narsee School, said.
Paul Machado, principal, Campion High School, said this year’s ISC candidates did well, and the school’s average grade went up to 93.95% from 89% last year. He said the exam was delayed by several Assembly elections, leading to some anxiety among students. “The exams went on till end-April instead of March-end. Students were restless due to the extra month.”
In all, 17,064 ICSE candidates and 2,318 ISC candidates appeared for the examinations in Maharashtra at 187 ICSE and 42 ISC centres. Girls recorded slightly higher pass percentages than boys in both exams: 99.9% in ICSE and 99.73% in ISC. The western region returned the second-highest scores in country, with top honours going to the south region.
