Mumbai: As the state's Class 10 board exams returned to their traditional format sans Covid-era relaxations, the performance of students has also dipped to the pre-pandemic levels, shows the results declared on Friday.
The success rate of students at the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) across Maharashtra dropped by around three percentage points from 96.37% recorded last year to 93.07%. A similar drop has been witnessed in Mumbai division, which includes the city as well as Thane, Raigarh and Palghar districts, where 92.26% students cleared the exam compared to 96.16% success rate in 2022, when the papers were held at the students' own schools with a reduced syllabus.
The pass percentages were even higher and unprecedented - 99.5% statewide and 99.96% in Mumbai in 2021, as the state was forced to evaluate students were evaluated on the basis of their performance in Class 9 and internal assessment instead of traditional year-end written tests due to the severity of the pandemic. However, the current showing of students is at par with 93.3% and 93.1% success rate in Maharashtra and Mumbai respectively.
At a 97.93% success rate, the Konkan division continues to top the table among nine divisional boards in the state, while Mumbai was placed in the sixth position. The female students continue to outperform boys with a 95.35% to 91.08% pass percentage.
Despite the relatively poor overall performance, the 100% club grew this year as 151 students, including six from the division, claimed the perfect score. The number of state board students in the Mumbai division scoring above 90% also grew from last year's 10,764 to 11,785, which gives them an edge over high scorers in non-state board schools for upcoming junior college admissions.
"Even though there's a reduction in pass percentages, the students did well considering the fact that the syllabus was reduced by 25% and papers were relatively easier last year. Despite their lack of writing practice and affinity and fixation on mobile phones, they were able to perform satisfactorily," Sudhir Ghagas, Head Master, Padmashri Annasaheb Jadhav Vidyalaya, Bhiwandi.
Poorva Londhe, a student at Parle Tilak Vidyalaya English Medium School, Dadar scored the perfect 100% in her SSC class 10 while also pursuing Bharatnatyam. " I took no tuitions in class 10 and also completed my Visharad in Bharatanatyam with 1st class distinction earlier this year. My parents have been very supportive of both my academic and extracurricular activities," she said.
The Andheri resident, who also enjoys playing Badminton, plans to take up Science in junior college.
Another cent percenter, Sania Phatak from Mahatma School of Academics and Sports, Navi Mumbai said that she was very consistent with her study every single day and never took any test lightly. "This consistency is what helped me perform so well, I guess. Every year I tried to do better than the previous year. I tried to stay away from social media as much as possible till the SSC exam, as it was a major distraction," said Sania, who loves to read novels.
Gayatri Kulkarni, a student of the same school who scored 99.6%, said that she is amazed and feels blessed about her results, though she had expected to do well. "My mantra was nothing exceptional but just time management and scheduling things and working towards it." she said, adding that writing a full-fledged exam after the pandemic was challenging but she overcame it with diligent practice.
Gayatri Kulkarni is an all-rounder too. Apart from being an avid reader, she is a Barathnayam dancer and a singer.
