NEW DELHI, June 9: Whoops of delight and cries of anguish were heard in schools across the city as Class XII students frantically scanned their Board examination results. Around 95,000 students of Delhi checked and cross-checked their marks as parents stood in the background calculating their child's prospects in the university admission procedure.While individual students excelled, Delhi's collective performance was dismal when compared to other centres. In keeping with the trend over the past few years, girls outdid the boys yet again.
The pass percentage of regular students in the Delhi region was 73.6, while that of the Chennai region was 84.9 per cent. All other regions, except Guwahati, have done better than Delhi. The overall pass percentage of regular candidates of the board is 77 per cent. Last year it was 78.55 per cent.
The results in Delhi have gone down. In 1997, the pass percentage was 76.89, three per cent more than this year's result. Moreover, the government school results have also gone down. Last year the result was 68.87 per cent, while this year it has dropped to 62.8 per cent. Kendriya Vidyalayas have not fared any better. While their pass percentage was 79.07 per cent in 1997, it was 76.5 per cent this year. Even the performance of public schools have gone down. Their pass percentage was 88.54 in 1997, it was 88.3 per cent this time.
Pass percentage of girls is 74.8, while that of the boys is 59.7 per cent. Both percentages have dropped in comparison to last year. In 1997, pass percentage of girls was 76.53; it was 60.31 per cent for boys.
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairman professor B.P. Khandelwal terms the dip in performance as ``only marginal''. ``The results are satisfactory. In fact, the results are an indicator of the tremendous potential our children have,'' he says.
The number of students with a compartment has gone up. Last year, 13,640 candidates had compartments; this time 15,094 students will have to sit for a re-exam. First chance compartmental examinations would be held on August 1 and candidates would be required to route their requests through the head of the institution, who has to ensure that the list of compartmental candidates reaches the respective regional office by July 1, said the CBSE officials.For candidates who appeared in the examinations this year, verification of marks facility will be available for 30 days from the date of declaration of results, it said.
Delhi accounted for 31 of a total of 51 cheating cases detected this year. Last year, of the total 114 cases, 67 were from Delhi followed by 20 in Allahabad and 19 in Chandigarh.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
