Mumbai: As the Maharashtra State Board has declared the results for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) examinations 2023 today on July 2, students across the state are experiencing a mix of emotions.
The release of exam results not only brings joy and relief but also highlights how the students performance has been impacted after Covid-19 as school principals claims that students underwent immense pressure during their Class 10 exams.
The overall pass percentage has seen a considerable drop from last year’s result, which broke several records without a traditional examination. Last year, the Maharashtra pass percentage was 96.94 percent, and the Mumbai division pass percentage was 99.96 percent, while the overall pass percentage for 2023 is 93.83%, and the Mumbai division pass percentage is 93.66 percent ranking the 4th among all nine divisions.
Full syllabus, lost writing habit hit SSC scores
According to city schools , the dip in overall pass percentage is the post pandemic effect and the lost writing habit hit SSC scores.
The principals blamed the 3.18% drop in SSC performance on the lack of writing practice among students since the pandemic and attributed it to various reasons, including the fact that students appeared for 100% syllabus after spending two to three years online during Covid.
“Last year, the syllabus was truncated to 75%; candidates were given 15-30 minutes extra,” said Fauzia Begum the principal of Kalsekar School.
Fauzia remarked, "We were concerned about the performance of our current batch in the exams, as students were unable to improve their writing abilities in the last two years as a result of online lectures, which are crucial for board exams. However, it took a lot of work from our team to get the students to write their papers with confidence and calmness.
Ms Kalayni Arumugam the principal of SIES High School, Mumbai says that “We have noticed that students who faced health or financial hardship during the pandemic are the ones who have not managed to clear the exam this year. We are happy to see how students beat all odds and have managed to score well in the board exam this year. Most of our students have passed the exams with the sheer will and dedication of teachers who had put in all efforts to get their writing habit back in row.”
The overall pass rate of Bombay Xaviers Society is 98.97%. The exam was taken by 195 students, and just two of them failed. "It was a difficult batch because it was the first conventional one after the pandemic," stated Thresia Sini, principal of The Bombay St Xavier's Society.
“We had to work extremely hard on roughly 30 students in particular, including parents as well as teachers to supervise them. I am relieved that 193 out of 195 students eventually passed the exams,” stated Thresia.
For the past seven years, Sir Cowasjee Jehangir High School in Mumbai has had a 100% overall pass rate. Principal Maharukh Daruwalla stated, "Despite the drop in pass percentage is an overall observation, there are students with high scores too. It gives me great joy to know that our school has had a 100% success rate for the last seven years, including this year, despite the fact that the exam format has returned to its conventional, Pre-COVID format.”
Eight schools in Mumbai had a pass percentage of 0%, indicating that none of their pupils passed the examination. Last year, three schools fell into this category. In contrast, 979 schools in Mumbai received a perfect score, compared to 1,965 schools in the same category last year.
