The southern region once again recorded the highest pass percentage in the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) class X exam as well as the Indian School Certificate (ISC) class XII exam whose results were announced on Friday.
While 99.66 per cent students passed in class X, 98.28 per cent cleared the exams in class XII. The Southern region also saw the highest number of girls appearing for both the examinations — 44.88 per cent in class X and 47.97 in class XII.
While none of the national-level toppers are from the State, Ajay Ebenezer Sundararaj from Ida Scudder School in Vellore topped the ICSE class X Exam in Tamil Nadu with 98.20 per cent and Apeksha Avinash Somalinga from Sishya in Chennai has topped the Indian School Certificate (ISC) class XII exam in the State with 98.50 per cent, said Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.
The pass percentage in Tamil Nadu however went down marginally from 99.89 in 2012 to 99.79 this year for class X and from 99.20 in 2012 to 98.19 for class XII.
City schools came up with a strong showing with many recording cent percent results. At Sishya, principal Omana Thomas said that 71 students had appeared for the class X examination and 73 for the class XII examination. “Quite a few scored a centum in class X mathematics and computer applications as well as in class XII mathematics,” she said. The number of students opting for Humanities group in class XI, she noted, was slowly picking up.
R. Meenakshi, principal, Vaels Billabong High International School, said the school too had recorded 100 per cent results. This is the second year that the school’s students were appearing for the class X exam. At Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam, all the 22 students who appeared for the ICSE exam have passed and five students have scored a centum in Mathematics, said Shobana Balaji, senior academic co-ordinator. This is the third batch that appeared for the class X examination.
While some students spent anxious hours before the announcement of the results, others such as Siddharth P.C. were almost caught unawares. A student of the Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam, Siddharth was enjoying his vacations with his grandparents in Pudukottai until a friend called him on Friday morning and informed him that results would out by noon. “I became very jittery after that. But, I am happy with the 93 per cent I scored,” he said. Eileen Benny Kuriokose, who scored 95.4 per cent, was so anxious that she refused to check her results and got her parents to do so.
On the other hand, Hatim Shabbir J., who appeared for the ISC class XII exam, was out the entire day and came home just to check his results before heading out again to play football. “I’m glad it is over, and am planning to pursue a B.Com. course. Since we have the option of choosing the top four among the subjects we appeared for, I have opted for English, accounts, commerce and computer science,” he said.
