Karnataka has recorded a pass percentage of 71.8% in the 2020 Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination. This is a decrease of 1.9 percentage points from last year’s 73.7%.
Six students in the State aced the exam by scoring 625 marks out of 625. Last year, only two secured the top spot. As many as 301 students secured 620 marks and above, while only 170 did so in 2019.
Announcing the results on Monday, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar said 5.82 lakh candidates of the 8.11 lakh who sat for the exam in June and July cleared all the papers. Attributing the dip in results to the uncertainty and anxiety faced by students on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said that many experts had, in fact, predicted a lower pass percentage this year. The drop can also be attributed to the change in the question paper pattern with more emphasis given to descriptive answers this year.
The exam, which was scheduled to be held in March/April this year, was put off after the entire country went into lockdown because of COVID-19.
While many States cancelled the board exams, the Karnataka government conducted the SSLC exam from June 25 to July 4 following a Standard Operating Procedure approved by the Supreme Court and the High Court of Karnataka.
Girls had a pass percentage of 77.74 and performed better than boys (66.41%). With a pass percentage of 77.18, rural students outperformed their urban counterparts (73.41%).
Meanwhile, among the freshers, 82.31% of the students from unaided schools passed. Aided and government school students recorded a pass percentage of 70.6 and 72.79, respectively.
As many as 1,550 schools secured 100% pass results, while 62 saw not a single student pass. While there has been a decrease in the number of schools that secured 100% results compared to the previous years, the number of schools with nil passes has increased.
