Girls outshine boys in CBSE Class 10 exams (Roundup)

NEW DELHI - Girls once again outperformed boys in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 exams results announced here Friday.

The board, which introduced the grading system in the exam for the first time, said 90.68 percent girls are eligible for the qualifying certificate as compared to 88.30 percent boys.

A total of 886,338 students from 9,439 schools across the country and abroad took the Class 10 exams this year. Of them, 522,107 were boys and 364,231 girls.

The percentage of students passing the exams, rechristened as ‘Eligible for Qualifying Certificate’, was 89.28 - up by 0.44 percent from last year.

However, a better performance was displayed by students in CBSE schools abroad as 98.05 percent of them qualified the exam. Among the disabled students, the qualifying percentage was 89.34 percent.

Among the regions, Chennai once again emerged as a winner with 96.18 percent students emerging eligible for qualifying certificate.

There were many happy faces - and many disappointed ones too - as results came out.

Tanya Makker, a student of the Delhi Public School (D.P.S.), R.K. Puram, said: “I have got A1 in all my subjects. The grading system is cool. It’s a stress reliever as the pressure over one or two marks is off our heads. There will be no crying over half a mark now.”

The new grading system ranks students on a nine-point scale ranging from A1 (excellent) to E2 (dissatisfactory), D being the minimum pass grade.

Those students who have obtained the qualifying grades (D and above) in all the subjects, excluding the additional subject, will be given the qualifying certificate.

A1 represents above 91 score. B1 is 81 to 90, while D is for marks from 33 to 40, and E1 and E2 are below 33.

The grades also have equivalent points which start from 10 for A1 to 4 for D. As the exact marks will not be revealed, these points can be multiplied with 9.5 to get the average marks represented by the grades.

Thus, A1 will be equal to 95, A2 - 85.5, B1 - 76, B2 - 66.5, C1 - 57, C2 - 47.5, and D will be equal to 38 average marks.

D.R. Saini, principal of D.P.S., R.K. Puram, said: “I am happy with the results. The grading system is good as there is a healthy competition among students now. A student getting 91 percent and another getting 100 percent will be in the same category, so it’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

However, Shruti Seth, a student of a Delhi school, said that she is not happy with the grading system.

“English is my favourite subject and I have always topped my class in the subject. However, I am quite disappointed with my results. I have got a B in English. I don’t know what’s my exact score and am confused as to how to send my paper for re-evaluation,” Seth said.

Aishwarya Kushari, another student, said: “I have got approximately 84 percent… but am unhappy with my result since I was expecting better than this. I don’t like this grading system because it gives you a very sketchy picture.”

CBSE spokesperson Rama Sharma said the practice of failing a student or awarding compartment has been discontinued. Instead, students are either awarded the qualifying certificate or a result declaring that he or she is ‘eligible for improvement’.

A total of 94,364 students have been declared ‘eligible for improvement’, or compartment exams.

Students from the autonomous Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) outperformed all other schools across India with a qualifying certificate percentage of 98.54 followed by Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) where 96.87 percent students will get qualifying certificates.

In government-run schools, the percentage this year was 83.01, while in government-aided schools it was 80.65.

A total of 11,054 merit certificates will also be given to students who got A1 grade in all 5 subjects.

–Indo Asian News Service