Punjab sees drop in pass percentage

With a fall of 14.7 per cent from last year, as many as 57.5 % students in Punjab passed the Class 10th examinations conducted by Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), here on Monday.

Girls led the way with a pass percentage of 63.97 per cent followed by boys at 52.35 per cent. Shruti Vohra of Ropar bagged the first position in the state securing 98.77 percent.

As many as 3.30 lakh students had appeared in the examination, out of which 1.90 lakh students passed the examination. A total of 45,734 students could not pass the examinations and 94,271 students had compartments.

The border districts in Majha region were among the best-performing districts; with Gurdaspur recording the highest pass percentage of 86.97 percent followed by Amritsar at 83.95 and Tarn Taran at 80.62 percent.

However, a total of 11 out of 22 districts registered dismal performance with a pass percentage of less than 50 per cent, with Sangrur recording the lowest pass percentage of 42.85.

The rural-urban divide was not much evident, as the pass percentage of students in urban areas was 57.93 percent, which was similar to those in rural at 57.28 percent. The government schools recorded a pass percentage of 52.80 percent.

Ludhiana with 113 students in the merit list led the way with maximum number of students who found place in a merit list of 379 students in the state, followed by Patiala and Sangrur.

With a drop of 14 per cent than last year, PSEB Chairman Balbir Singh Dhol said that the results had come down because of the ‘Marks Moderation System’ which was abolished this year. Earlier students used to get grace marks under the system, which led to an improvement in the results.