Kolkata: One-hundred and thirty-one students made it to the Top 10 list of Madhyamik this year—the highest in recent years—with Avirup Bhadra from Sarada Vidyamandir (Raiganj) High School bagging the first position with 698 marks (99.7%). Madhyamik results were announced on Friday.
Among those who scored 90% and above were 129 of 134 students of RKM Narendrapur, 10 of 166 at Jadavpur Vidyapith, 36 of 194 at Patha Bhavan, 18 of 102 at Jodhpur Park Boys’ and 26 out of 216 from Scottish Church Collegiate School. Hindu School and Ballygunge Govt had only four of 126 students who scored 90% and above and seven of 101 respectively. Teacher shortage and the fewer number of teaching days due to long vacations also had an impact.
It will be unfair to compare them with those of other boards, which gives quite a few high-scorers from Kolkata,” he said. West Bengal Govt School Teachers’ Association general secretary Saugata Basu said, “This time, questions in several subjects, including life science and maths, were a bit difficult as quite a few were application based. RKM Narendrapur headmaster Swami Ishteshananda said, “We focus on practice and our students sit for tests.
Brushing aside a possibility of bias against Kolkata students, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education president Ramanuj Ganguly maintained the results were entirely based on performance. “We cater to a wide range of students, many of them first-generation learners. “We don’t have MCQs, a staple in other board papers. But teachers at Kolkata state schools highlighted teaching-learning and teaching-question pattern gaps. But students hardly practise such questions in class. ” Hindu School headmaster Subhrajit Dutta blamed dependence on technology, especially AI for the declining number of high-scorers from the city. It helps them score well.”
This year’s pass percentage of the state board class 10 exams rose marginally from 86.6% last year to 86.8% as 8,06,015 of 9,53,753 students cleared the exam. More girls appeared for the exams than boys but the success rate among girls (84.5%) was lower than boys’, at 89.5%. Though second language, maths and physical science scores declined, students scored above 90% more in geography, life science, history.