Transgender students outshine girls, boys in CBSE Class 12 exams

HYDERABAD: Girls secured 94.54 per cent passes and boys 91.25 per cent in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class XII results which were released on Friday. All transgender students cleared the exam this year too, resulting in 100 per cent passes, though the board did not release the number of transgender students. All transgender students had cleared the exam last year too.

The pass percentage among students in the transgender category has consistently improved, from 83.33 per cent in 2019, 86.19 per cent in 2020 to 100 per cent in 2021 and 2022.

Girls secured 88.70 per cent in 2019, 92.15 per cent in 2020, 99.67 per cent in 2021 and 94.54 in 2022. Boys secured 79.40 per cent in 2019, 86.19 per cent in 2020, 99.13 per cent in 2021 and 91.25 per cent in 2022.

The Thiruvananthapuram region got the highest pass percentage of 98.83, followed by Bengaluru with 98.16 per cent and Hyderabad stood third at 97.79. Prayagraj region of Uttar Pradesh got the lowest pass percentage of 83.71.

The change in the examination pattern resulted in the overall pass percentage dropping by 6.66 percentage points when compared to the previous year (99.37 per cent in 2021). Out of 14,35,366 students who appeared for the examination, 13,30,662 passed.

The board informed that it would issue the merit certificate to 0.1 per cent of students who scored the highest marks in subjects. However, no merit list will be declared. The board will not award the first, second and third divisions.

The CBSE said 33,432 students had scored 95 per cent marks this year, while 1,34,797 students had crosed the 90 per cent marks threshold.

The CBSE authorities stated that the last two academic years were severely affected due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, the board declared the result of Class X and Class XII based on the tabulation policy approved by the Supreme Court.

The board decided to conduct the examinations in two terms for the first time in the history of the CBSE. In term I, it was decided that an examination of a short duration of 90 minutes should be conducted with the half syllabus to have a realistic assessment of students. In term II, the other half of the syllabus was fixed for the assessment by holding examinations of two-and-half-a-hours each for different subjects.

Authorities informed that the feedback received after term-1 (theory) exams was that students were unable to perform to their full potential as they had to appear for an objective pattern for the first time in board exams. For term II, exams were more positive, with satisfactory performance being expressed by the students.

As far as practicals were concerned, equal weightage of term I and term II was given. The weightage of term-I was fixed at 30 per cent, and term-II was 70 per cent for theory papers. Authorities informed that Covid-19 scare, change in syllabus and examination pattern resulted in the drop of pass percentage when compared to last year.