With the Plus Two and Class X board exam results announced on the same day on Monday, school heads said that there was a significant difference in the performances of students — that the Plus Two results seemed better than that of the Class X results.
Even the overall pass percentage across the State indicated the same. While there was a marginal increase in the performance of Plus Two students, the performance of Class X students had dropped by nearly 5% in comparison to the last round of exams held before the pandemic. The overall pass percentage for Class X in the years before the pandemic is usually better than that of Plus Two.
“We are seeing a trend across schools which indicate that the Plus Two students’ performance is much better than the marks secured by the Class X students. In our school as well, we have 81 centums across subjects in Plus Two, and 18 centums in Class X,” said Vishnucharan Panneerselvam, Correspondent, Shree Niketan Group of Schools. He said that while they would usually see a number of Class X students approach the school for scholarships or admission queries, they did not have many students come in on Monday.
Data released by the Directorate of Government Examinations (DGE) indicated that students in the science group had fared better than those in the commerce group with regard to the overall pass percentage in Plus Two.
“The Plus Two papers this year were definitely student -friendly, and the students had a truncated syllabus to prepare from. Despite their academic session lacking continuity, students have performed well,” said N.Vijayan, Correspondent, Zion group of schools. He said that above 66 students have scored centums in Plus Two, which was an increase in comparison to the exams held before the pandemic.
There was also an increase in absentees in the Class X exams when compared to 2019, when the exams were last held before the pandemic. Nearly 4.45% candidates did not write the exam this year, when compared to 2.09% candidates in 2019.
“With a delayed start to the academic year, it was a struggle to ensure students of Class X were motivated and studied consistently for the exams. The academic year was a hard one for most students, and this resulted in the overall pass percentage in Class X seeing a dip,” said S. Gokulakrishnan, Headquarters Secretary, Tamil Nadu Teachers Association.
