This year’s SSLC pass percentage stands at 67.87, the lowest since 2010 and marks a drop of 7.24 percentage points when compared with the last year’s results.
However, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait on Friday said this year’s results were more “realistic” as he claimed that no grace marks were awarded this time. This decision, he said, was taken at a meeting with all examination boards convened by the the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Sources, however, said the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board awarded grace marks at the results compilation stage, which has helped around 24,000 students to pass the exam.
As per the rules framed in March this year, grace marks can be awarded to candidates who have secured aggregate marks in all subjects to pass the examination, but have failed in a maximum of two subjects. The rules had also capped grace marks at the results compilation stage at less than 5% of the maximum marks. This has been adhered to. Not only has the pass percentage declined but even the percentage of students bagging ‘A plus’ grade (in the freshers’ category) has marginally reduced. This year 6.44% students scored an ‘A plus’ compared with 6.61% last year.
Trends remain the same
There is a huge difference in the performance of girls and boys, a trend that repeats itself every year. The pass percentage of girls stands at 74.08, which is 11.66 percentage points higher than that of boys.
Rural students, with 74.12% passes, have scored more than their urban counterparts whose pass percentage is 72.18%.
Government school students have registered 68.87% passes, while 80.7% of the students who attended private schools cleared the exam. Aided schools have occupied the second spot, with 70.38% of students passing.
Udupi, with 84.23% passes, has clinched the top spot, while Bidar has dropped to the last spot, with 62.2% passes.
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Dates to remember
The last date for candidates who wish to apply for re-totalling and photocopies of answer scripts is May 22. The last date for paying the supplementary exam fee is May 22. The last date to apply for re-evaluation of answer scripts is seven days after receiving photocopy. The supplementary exams will be conducted between June 15 and 22.
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The highs and lows
The number of schools where all the students have cleared the SSLC exam has come down, while schools where each and every child failed to secure pass marks have increased. Across Karnataka, 924 schools recorded cent per cent results this year, a drop from 1,569 in 2016. The number of schools that have registered zero passes stands at 60, up from 52 last year.
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Maximum marks scored
Candidates have bagged maximum marks in more papers this year than last year. They have scored the maximum marks in 20,262 papers, an increase of 2,707 from last year. Maximum centums have been bagged in the third language by 9,757 candidates. Science has the least number of students with a full score. This year, the number of candidates who aced the mathematics paper (not a single mark lost) stands at 1,458; a decline from last year’s 3,459.
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Performance of SC, ST students
Like every year, the pass percentage of the Schedule Castes and the Schedule Tribes students is lower when compared with the pass percentage of other candidates. The pass percentage of SC and ST students stands at 59.58 and 62.53 respectively.
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Language matters
Around 78.94% students from English-medium schools have passed the board exam, the figure for Kannada-medium schools stands at 62.47%. The pass percentage in other mediums is as follows: Urdu (60.48%), Marathi (66.15%), Telugu (67.37%), Tamil (48.96%), and Hindi (65.09%).
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Teacher shortage to be addressed soon
To improve the pass percentage in SSLC examination, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait said they would fill the teacher vacancies. He said the recruitment would be done shortly. According to the latest the District Information System for Education report, out of the 44,630 sanctioned posts in high schools, only 38,923 are filled.
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Drastic dip in rankings of many districts
Several educational districts have seen a drastic dip in their rankings in terms of SSLC pass percentage. Bengaluru Rural, which was in the top spot in 2016, has been pushed to the 10th place this time. Chikkamagaluru, which had bagged the 5th position last year, now stands at 18. Raichur, which had secured 11th position in 2016, now stands at the 30th spot. Bagalkot, which was in the 7th spot last year, is now in the 33rd spot.
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Beating all odds
Candidates with special needs who appeared for the SSLC exam have done extremely well. About 53.01% of the 1,013 physically challenged candidates and 78.23% of the 441 visually challenged candidates have passed. About 62.5% of the 56 students with multiple disabilities, 49.38% of the 881 candidates with hearing and speech impairments, and 29.81% of the 208 mentally changed students have cleared the exam. Meanwhile, 58.12% of the 554 candidates with specific learning disability have passed.
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CCE system to be improved
The Department of Public Instruction has decided to improve the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) system. In the SSLC exam, 80% of the marks comes from external examination and 20% from internal evaluation. Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait said some schools were being liberal in awarding marks in internal evaluation. He said the department would see how they could streamline the system.
