East Midnapore tops Bengal with pass percentage of 96.10

Kolkata: The results of the Madhyamik Examination this year recorded a pass percentage of 86.07, the highest in the history of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) which conducts the examination in the state.

East Midnapore, with a pass percentage of 96.10, emerged as the highest in the state, followed by Kolkata and West Midnapore, registering pass percentages of 92.13 and 91.78 respectively.

The total number of candidates who had appeared for the Madhyamik Examination this year was 10,50,397. The total number of female candidates were 5,91,179, 12.56 percent more than the 4,59,218 male candidates. In 2017, the increase in the percentage of girls in comparison to boys was 10.76 percent, while that in 2018 was 11.91 percent.

"The rise in the number of female candidates indicates that there is a growing urge not only to send children to school among all cross-sections of the society, but also to continue their studies at least up to the secondary level," said Kalyanmoy Ganguly, president of WBBSE.

The pass percentage of the male candidates stood at 89.97 percent, much higher than the girls at 82.87 percent. The number of female minority candidates appearing for the examination this year was also higher than their male counterparts. The number of female minority examinees was 1,71,679, as opposed to 99,996 males.

"It indicates a positive trend among the female children of the minority communities to join the mainstream. Even the pass percentage of physically challenged candidates has been 89.30, which proves that the urge for education is not confined to normal school-goers only," Ganguly said.

51 candidates have figured in the first ten positions according to the merit list prepared by WBBSE. The highest score of 694 has been bagged by Sougata Das, a student of Mahammadpur Deshpran Vidyapith of East Midnapore.

Soham Das of Jadavpur Vidyapith is the only candidate from the city appearing on the top of the merit list, at the 10th position. A few kilometres away from the city in South 24 Parganas, Narendrapur Ramkrishna Mission's Abhinanadan Jana and Aikik Majhi have both bagged the ninth position, whereas Pratyasha Majumder of Birati Vidyalaya for Girls, located a few kilometres from the city airport, has also bagged the 10th spot on the merit list.

The number of candidates bagging AA grade securing 90 percent and above is 8,504, A+ with over 80 percent marks is 23,488 and A with 60 percent and above is 85,291. There has not been a single incomplete or withheld result in the Madhyamik Examination this year. The Board, however, did not announce the dates for next year's examination and said that the schedule will be announced shortly.