Namakkal district once again produced the toppers in the State Board Class XII examination this year, which saw a marginal increase in the overall pass percentage.
In the results declared on Thursday, S. Jayasuriya and S. Abinesh once again placed the district at the top with a score of 1,189 marks out of 1,200.
As many as 8,53,355 students wrote the State Board Class XII Examination in March, and those who succeeded accounted for 88.1 per cent. This is a marginal rise over 86.7 per cent recorded in 2012. Though girls may have statistically trumped boys in terms of pass percentage once again, the first rank was shared by two boys and the second rank by a boy and a girl. While topper S. Jayasuriya is a student of Vidya Vikas Boys Higher Secondary School, S. Abinesh is a student of Green Park Matriculation Higher Secondary School. S. Palaniraj from Vidya Vikas Matriculation Higher Secondary School, and R. Akalya from Sri Vijay Vidyalaya Matric Higher Secondary School in Hosur, share the second rank with Tamil as first language. They scored 1,188/1,200.
The third rank was shared by nine students from Namakkal, Krishnagiri, and Madurai districts, besides areas around Chennai. However, no student from a government school made it to the top three ranks in the State, with private schools grabbing the pie. Though Virudhunagar district has not produced State toppers, it continues to hold its position at the top with a pass percentage of 95.87. While the pass percentage among boys has increased marginally from 83.2 in 2012 to 84.7 in 2013, the corresponding figure for girls rose from 89.7 in 2012 to 91 per cent this year.
With a pass percentage of 91.82, Chennai too had its share of toppers. S. Kaavya, from Rosary Matriculation Higher Secondary School, whose first language is French, scored the highest in the State with 1,192/1,200.
H. Abinaya of S.D.A.V. Higher Secondary School, who opted for Sanskrit as first language, stood second with a score of 1,191/1200. Only those who opted for Tamil as first language are considered for the official rank list.