Kolkata: Around 88.44 per cent of students have passed the Higher Secondary (HS) examination this year, the result of which was announced by the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) on Friday. As many as 4,97,809 students out of 6,36,875 successful candidates have scored more than 60 per cent marks in the exam.
Boy students have outperformed the girls with the pass percentage of 90.19 percent while girls secured 86.58 percent. The WBCHSE published the results within 44 days after the exam ended.
The HS exam this year started on April 2 and ended on April 26. The examination was conducted offline following all Covid guidelines issued by the state government. Around 7,20,862 lakh students appeared for the HS exam this year. Around 96.8 percent of the total number of enrolled candidates appeared for the examination. WBCERC president Chiranjib Bhattacharya said the post publication scrutiny process will start from June 30. A total of 272 students have managed to make it to the toppers' list.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated all the successful students. Taking to Twitter, she said: "Congratulations to our successful students and rank-holders of Higher Secondary examination! Girls and boys of our districts have shown exemplary performance, while city students too make us proud".
Adisha Debsharma from Dinhata Soni Devi Jain High School ranked first by scoring 498 marks out of 500 with 99.6 per cent.
Sayandip Samanta from Jalchak Nateswari Netaji Vidyayatan has ranked second with 497 marks (99.4%). Four students have jointly ranked third with 496 marks (99.2%) while eight students have jointly ranked fourth with 495 marks each. Around 11 candidates have jointly ranked fifth.
Rohin Sen from Patha Bhavan in Kolkata is among the four who jointly share the third rank.
WBCERC president Chiranjib Bhattacharya on Friday also announced the dates for next year's examination. He maintained that the HS exam next year will be performed on full syllabus and will start on March 14 and end on March 27.
This year, the HS exam was held in home venues due to the Covid situation but next year, the WBCHSE will go back to the earlier norm.
Students will have to appear for exams in other schools next year. The test was carried out on a reduced syllabus this year due to the pandemic situation, said Bhattacharya. This year, the exam was conducted on 56 subjects.
East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Jhargram, South 24-Parganas, Purulia, Kalimpong, Bankura are among the top performing districts.
Kolkata is not, however, on the list of top performing districts in terms of pass percentage. Pass percentage crossed 90 percent in seven districts including East Midnapore, South 24-Pargana and West Midnapore.