The arid southern districts of Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram have stolen the show in the Plus Two examinations, results of which were published on Friday, by securing the top two positions in overall pass percentage in the State .
With a jump of 2.1% in pass percentage compared to last year, Virudhunagar has made a comeback to the top position.
A total of 97.85% students -- 24,564 out of 25,103 -- from 200 higher secondary schools in the educational districts of Srivilliputtur, Aruppukottai and Virudhunagar passed the examinations. Last year, the success rate was 95.73%.
The district that had been making it to the first position in Plus Two examinations for 28 consecutive years, first lost the crown in 2013-14 when it slipped to third position.
But, after returning to the winning habit the next year, it again lost in 2015-16.
“This time, the heads of all schools and teachers put in a great effort in helping the slow learners. With the co-operation of parents and students, we held special classes, both in the mornings and evenings, with continuous evaluation of progress of students after quarterly, half-yearly and revision examinations,” the Chief Educational Officer, D. Manoharan, said.
Besides, more than 50% of the 200 schools secured centum results. Among them were 30 government and 36 aided schools, he added.
Similarly, as usual girls helped the district to secure the top position with higher success rate. Out of 13,706 girls, 98.91% passed and out of 11,397 boys 96.58% came out successfully.
Springing a surprise
Virudhunagar’s neighbour, an arid and backward Ramanathapuram, sprang a surprise this year, securing the second position, recording an overall pass percentage of 96.77.
The district, which carried the ‘dubious’ tags of being drought prone, communally sensitive and never in the race for top slots, stole the limelight by making a big leap in the ranking table.
In all, 15,836 students, including 8,497 girls, from 133 schools appeared for the examinations and 15,325 of them passed, recording an overall pass percentage of 96.77, improving on last year’s performance by 1.73%.
Last year, the district marginally improved the pass percentage by 0.38% over the previous year but managed to get only the ninth position. “This year, there has been concerted effort to improve the pass percentage as well as ranking but the second position was a pleasant surprise,” Collector S. Natarajan said.
