Girls outshine boys in CBSE Class 12 results; 'fail' replaced with 'essential repeat'

New Delhi: Girls outshone boys by nearly 6 percentage points in CBSE Class 12 examination results declared on Monday based on an alternative assessment system adapted after some tests had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Central Board of Secondary Education has decided against releasing the merit list and replaced the term "fail" with "essential repeat" because of the exceptional circumstances.

Accordingly, the term "fail" will not figure in the result documents. The pass percentage of girls was 92.15 and that of boys was 86.19. Transgender candidates recorded a pass percentage of 66.67. The overall pass percentage increased by 5.38 points this year. While 83.40 per cent students cleared the exam last year, 88.78 per cent students cleared it this year.

More than 38,000 students secured marks above 95 per cent and over 1.57 lakh scored above 90 per cent. A total of 11.92 lakh candidates appeared for the examination. The Trivandrum region recorded the highest pass percentage of 97.67 while the Patna region recorded the lowest at 74.57. Delhi recorded 94.39 pass percentage. Also, the government-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya group recorded the highest pass percentage of 98.70. Private schools recorded a pass percentage of 88.22.

The results of 400 students, however, could not be computed as per the alternative scheme and will be announced later, a senior board official said. Students had a tough time accessing the board website which crashed within minutes of announcement of the results and was not accessible even hours later. The board officials advised students to reach out to their respective schools to learn about their results in the meantime. The board announced the results on the basis of an alternative assessment scheme after the pending exams were cancelled due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in late March.

According to the four-pointer scheme, marks have been awarded on the basis of marks scored by a student in his or her best performing subjects. According to the assessment scheme, students were divided into four categories. The first had students who sat in tests for all their subjects; their results have been declared on the basis of their performance in all the papers. Students in the second category had appeared for more than three subjects.

They have been awarded marks for subjects they did not appear for based on the average of the marks obtained by them in the three best performing subjects. The board identified a third category of students who appeared in only three subjects. For them, the average of marks obtained in the two best performing subjects has been awarded in the subjects whose examinations were not conducted.

The students in the fourth category were mainly from the February riot-affected Northeast Delhi region where exams had to be postponed. The results of these students have been declared on the basis of their performance in the subjects they took the test for besides their performance in internal or practical project assessment.

The board has decided to give an option to students to take a re-test in some subjects if they are not satisfied with their results and want to improve them. "The CBSE will conduct an optional examination in the subjects, whose examinations were scheduled to be conducted from July 1 to 15, as soon as conditions are conducive as assessed and decided by the Central government. Candidates whose results have been declared on the basis of the assessment scheme will be allowed to appear in these optional examinations to improve their performance if they wish so. Marks obtained by a candidate in these optional examinations will be treated as final for those who opt to take these examinations," the board said.