The number of high performers in this year’s higher secondary examinations has declined sharply compared to last year, though the pass percentage has improved slightly.
The drop is even more significant because the number of examinees increased this year.
The results of the Class XII board exams, conducted by the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Examinations, were announced on Wednesday.
Next year, the higher secondary exams will start on February 16 and continue till February 29, the council said.
This year, in all grades upwards from B+, the numbers have gone down.
The lack of in-person classes till the middle of February 2022 because of the Covid pandemic, the strain on resources at home and the limitations of technology may have all worked together to pull the marks down, conversations with teachers suggested.
A truncated syllabus and the advantage of writing the papers at one’s own school might have pushed up marks a few notches last year, the teachers said.
Council president Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya said: “We will assess later what triggered the dip in the number of high performers.”
This year, 87,613 students scored an A (70-79 per cent in aggregate). The number was 1,53,364 last year.
This year, 44,920 candidates scored an A+ (80-89 per cent). The figure was 1,38,362 last year.
The number of students with the highest grade — O (90- 100 per cent) — has come down from 47,203 in 2022 to 7,958.
Last year, 7,17,052 candidates had appeared in the school-leaving exams. They had written the papers at their respective schools — home centres — under the watch of teachers they have known for years.
Also, the syllabus had been truncated last year as a concession to students because of the disruption to academic activities caused by Covid.
This year, 7,93,209 candidates appeared in the Class XII board exams. They wrote the papers in away centres and the exams were held on the entire syllabus.
The pass percentage has improved marginally — from 88.44 last year to 89.25.
More students have got B grade (50-59) and C grade (40-49) this year compared with last year.
“The examinees had missed in-person classes when they were in Class XI because of the pandemic-induced shutdown of campuses. Classes started around the middle of February 2022. The absence of in-person classes for a substantial period of time seems to have impacted the performance in the board examinations,” said a council official.
Online classes have not been able to fill the void as students from underprivileged families had to cope with severe resource constraints. The problem has manifested more acutely in the Bengal board results.
The average scores in the CBSE and ISC exams, too, have shown a dip from last year, several schools have reported. But the numbers seem far more serious in the state board’s results.
“It goes to show that the problems arising from online classes affected children from marginalised families more than others,” a teacher at a government school said.
The principal of a college said the dip in the number of high performers is a matter of concern, given that undergraduate admissions in colleges will be held based on marks. “If the Bengal board has registered a sharper fall compared with the CBSE board and ICSE council, HS examinees will face a tough competition in college enrolment,” he said.
Saudipta Das, of the Collegium of Assistant Headmasters and Assistant Headmistresses, said: “The results show the absence of classroom teaching has weakened the students’ base.”
