Students who took the Class XII Higher Secondary Examination this March have recorded a pass percentage of 85.2, according to the results declared by the Directorate of Government Examinations here on Friday. This is a 2.2-percentage point increase over last year's 83 per cent.
While the overall pass percentage is the highest this decade, the percentage of students securing a first class (above 60 per cent) has fallen to 52.8 per cent from 55.66 last year.
In keeping with the trend of the last several years, girls have outdone boys.
The pass percentage among girls is 88 per cent, while among boys it is 81.9 per cent. Girls of this batch have also recorded a 2.5-percentage point increase compared to 85.5 per cent they obtained last year.
As many as 1,762 students have scored a centum in Mathematics.
However, the number is considerably less compared to last year, when 4,060 students obtained full marks in the subject.
This year, a section of students and teachers had observed that the Mathematics question paper was lengthy and difficult.
Rank holders
For port city Tuticorin, it was time to celebrate, as R. Pandian of S.V. Hindu Vidyalaya Higher Secondary School (HSS) emerged State topper among students who studied Tamil as their first language, obtaining a total of 1,187 out of 1,200.
R. Sandhiya of Vivekananda Higher Secondary School, Namakkal, and C. Karunya and M. Dinesh of S.V. Mandir Matriculation HSS., Krishnagiri, obtained the second rank in the category, with a total of 1,186.
The third rank in the category was shared by 5 students – P. Pradakshna of CVPACRR Matriculation HSS., Virudhunagar; B. Abinaya of BVB Matriculation HSS., Erode; S. Manochitra of Kurinji Matriculation HSS., Namakkal; F. Anto Nazarene of Arasunagar Matriculation HSS., Ariyalur; and Srividya Sampath of Prince Matriculation HSS., Madipakkam, Chengalpattu, with all of them scoring 1,185.
In the category of students who had taken Tamil or any other language as first language, Anu Asaithambi of DAV Matriculation HSS., Chennai, emerged first in the State with a total of 1,188.
Speaking to The Hindu, School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu said it was heartening to see toppers emerge from smaller towns, in addition to those from the big cities.
“The overall performance is very good. While the number of centums in mathematics may have gone down, the pass percentage in the subject is still good. It is also nice to see toppers coming from my district (Virudhunagar) for about 25 years now,” he added.
