Science stream continues to dominate HS merit list

Kolkata: Science stream students have once again asserted their dominance in the state’s Higher Secondary (HS) examinations, accounting for the bulk of this year’s merit list. Notably, the top four rank holders are all from the pure science stream, with the PCM-B combination, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology.

Out of the 72 students placed in the top 10 ranks, 55 belong to the science stream. Arts followed with 15, while commerce had only two students — a marginal improvement from last year’s nil.

Rupayan Pal of Burdwan CMS High School, East Burdwan, topped the merit list with 497 out of 500 (99.4 per cent). He scored perfect 100s in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, 99 in Biology, 98 in Bengali and 97 in English. The second, third and fourth positions were also bagged by students with the same PCM-B subject combination. This continues a longstanding trend, despite last year’s deviation, when the topper hailed from Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya with Eco-Stats-Maths and Computer Science. That year also saw greater arts representation in the merit list.

A total of 4,82,984 regular candidates enrolled for the 2025 HS exams, of whom 4,73,919 appeared and 4,30,286 passed, recording a pass percentage of 90.79 per cent. Grade-wise, 1,95,244 students (45.38 per cent) scored 60 per cent and above (Grade B+). Among them 25.66 per cent (1,10,402) scored 70 per cent and above (Grade A), with 16.99 per cent (73,097) crossing the 75 per cent mark. Meanwhile, 10.25 per cent (44,121) secured 80 per cent and above (Grade A+), while only around 1.7 per cent (7,309) achieved 90 per cent and above (Grade O).

Among O-grade scorers, science students led with 3,588, followed by 3,116 from arts and 603 from commerce. “We have been working to popularise science education and are encouraged to see these results. It shows more bright students are choosing science,” said Chiranjib Bhattacharya, president, West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE). In contrast, arts students outperformed in the A+ grade bracket, with 16,773 scoring above 80 per cent, slightly ahead of science (16,577). Commerce trailed with 3,452 students. Similarly, in the A grade 31,485 students were from arts, followed by 28,481 from science and 6,300 from commerce.

In the B+ category, arts saw the highest numbers again, with 52,542 students, followed by 24,310 from science and 7,981 from commerce. Officials noted that the larger number of candidates in the arts stream likely contributed to this distribution, as well as its slightly lower pass percentage. Science once again recorded the highest pass percentage with 99.46 per cent, a jump from last year’s 97.19 per cent. Of the 82,022 students who appeared, 81,583 passed.

Commerce, despite having the lowest number of candidates (30,887 appeared, 30,120 passed), registered the second-highest pass percentage at 97.52 per cent, slightly lower than last year’s 98.08 per cent. Arts recorded a pass percentage of 88.25 per cent, nearly unchanged from last year’s 88.20 per cent.