99.63 per cent Maharashtra board students pass HSC

Arya Dubal and Anish Joshi from Ramnivas Ruia Junior College scored 99.33 per cent

As the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education declared the much-awaited Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) result on Tuesday, one emotion that was expressed by most city colleges and students, was - ‘All's well that ends well.' With highly unprecedented conditions of online learning, then delay in the exam followed by uncertainty over whether it will be held, then stress over formula to be used for evaluation; the year was certainly full of chaos. But the outcome has definitely led to smiles.

The Maharashtra State Board recorded passing percentage of 99.63 in the HSC result, a huge jump from the previous year's 87.69 per cent. For Mumbai division too, it is a huge jump in passing percentage from 89.39 per cent last year to 99.79 per cent this year. This year a total of 91,420 students have scored 90 per cent and above which is significantly higher than 7,344 last year.

"Some students might have had disadvantages if they did not do well in std XI as the HSC result was compilation of marks from stds X, XI and XII; but overall, most students have done well. If there was no honesty and transparency in evaluation, all would have scored 100 and above. Considering the pandemic, everybody has done really well," said Dr Ashok Wadia, principal of Jai Hind College, Churchgate.

Also read: Maharashtra HSC results 2021: Class 12 scores announced, check here

At Wadia college, in the Commerce stream, 35 students scored above 95 per cent and 232 have scored above 90. In the Science stream, 17 scored above 95 per cent and 89 got above 90 per cent. In Arts, 67 scored above 95 per cent and 155 above 90 per cent. This year, many colleges are seeing a significant number of students scoring above 90 percent. At R A Podar College in Matunga, 50 students scored above 95 per cent and 266 scored above 90 per cent. The story is similar at most city colleges.

Dr Shobna Vasudevan, principal of R A Podar College said, "This should be an eye-opening year in terms of patterns of evaluation. This year shows consistency in academics is most important. Students need to understand the importance of sustainable efforts."

Echoing the view, Dr Parag Ajgaonkar, principal of N M College, said, "This has been a really challenging year, academically as well as personally for students with the pandemic conditions."

Among high scorers

Science: Two students from Ramnivas Ruia Junior College - Arya Dubal and Anish Joshi - have scored an identical score of 99.33 per cent. While Dubal is from the General Science stream, Joshi is from the vocational Science stream. "It has been a very stressful year with all the uncertainty and confusion. But the outcome is well. Thankfully I was consistent in academics in std XI too. That has helped," said Arya, a musician at heart. A professionally trained keyboard and guitar player, Arya has already appeared for JEE.

Anish wants to become an engineer and is aspiring for a seat in IIT. The son of an engineer father, Anish was always inclined toward mathematics and science. "I was expecting above 90 per cent but this score is certainly a delight," said Anish.

Commerce: Maitreyi Salvi from R A Podar College and Celeste Pereira from N M College both scored 98.5 per cent. "Teachers gave us the idea that we may not know whether there will be an exam, so we should treat all exams as final exams. This is an eye-opening year in terms of how academics is not one final exam," said Maitreyi.

For Celeste, no academic year is taken for granted. "From the beginning of school, I have always focused on getting a good score. I would feel sad if it was an A instead of A+. Consistency is the key. There is no option for hard work."

Arts: Pooja Nayak from Jai Hind College in Churchgate scored 99 per cent. "All credit goes to teachers for not only adapting well to the new online format, but also for continuous evaluation. Fortunately I have been a dedicated student in all academic years, including std XI which many take casually, so it helped in getting the good score in HSC," said the aspiring lawyer.

Other figures

In Maharashtra, out of 13,19,754 students whose marks were obtained for HSC result, 13,14,965 have passed, recording a passing percentage of 99.63 per cent.

In Mumbai Division, out of a total of 2,94,090 students whose marks were obtained, 2,93,579 have passed, recording passing percentage of 99.79 per cent. Mumbai division ranks fourth in a total of 9 divisions.

4 - The rank of Mumbai Division in the results