CBSE Class 12 results likely to push up Delhi University cut-offs, 12k students score above 95%

The pass percentage in the Class XII board examination rose by 1 percentage point and the number of students scoring above 95% increased sharply, according to results declared by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Saturday, an outcome that will mean tougher competition for seats in Delhi University (DU) colleges. The overall pass percentage at the national level increased from last year’s 82.02% to 83.01%, And 12,737 students scored above 95%, 2,646 more than last year. A total of 1.18 million students sat for the Class 12 examinations that were held in 4,138 centres in India and 71 centres outside the country. The higher scores among the toppers of the exam conducted by India’s largest education board will translate into steeper eligibility cut-offs for applying to DU colleges compared to recent years; the cut-off lists will be published starting in June. Cut-offs in DU are dictated by CBSE result trends since the board is the source of the majority of applicants. “Of course cut-offs will increase. But by how much we can only tell after all the applications are received,” said a DU official on condition of anonymity. Students have complained in the past about unrealistically high cut-offs depriving them of admission to a college or course of their choice. Cut-offs last year were as high as 99.66%. The Delhi region itself posted its best Class 12 performance in many years. The region’s pass percentage increased to 89% from 88.37% last year, making it the best performance since 2011. Pass percentages in Delhi and the nation hit 80% and above for the first time in 2007, although they had been rising steadily since at least 1992. Part of the reason for the increase are changes introduced in the marking of exam papers, including the award of grace marks. The topper, Noida’s Meghna Srivastava, scored 499 out of 500, in the humanities stream. The only mark she lost out on was in the English exam The Trivandrum region recorded the best pass percentage at 97.32%, followed by the Chennai and Delhi regions, according to data released by the board. In the national capital, government schools improved their success rate, going from 88.27% last year to 90.69% this year. The pass percentage in private schools was 88.35%. This year’s CBSE examinations were mired in controversy after question papers, including Class 12’s Economics, were found to have leaked prior to the test. For this first time in its history, the board held a nationwide retest in a subject. CBSE officials said that the economics result this year was better than the previous year’s. The pass percentage in the subject increased to 83.4% from last year’s 80.24% “I congratulate all those who succeeded. Those who did not succeed, I give them my best wishes because they should not lose heart. This is a temporary setback and they will put in more effort and succeed,” Prakash Javadekar, the minister of human resource development, said after the results were declared. As has been the norm, more girls (88.31%) cleared the exam than boys (78.99%). Six of the nine top scorers this year were recorded by female students. In addition to topper Srivastava, four of the top 10 are also from the national capital region centred on Delhi: Anoushka Chandra, Nakul Gupta and Kshitij Anand from Ghaziabad, and Supriya Kaushik from Noida. Chandra stood second with 498 and the other three were tied at 497 marks. “I never expected myself to be the all India topper though I had expected good marks,” said Srivastava. “ I was elated when I came to know that I had emerged not only as the school topper but also the national topper.” Source: Hindustan Times