Pre-pandemic guidelines impact HSC results, pass percentage falls

Mumbai: The results of Maharashtra board’s higher secondary certificate (HSC-Class 12) exams, which were conducted as per the pre-pandemic guidelines, were announced on Thursday, with the state registering an overall pass percentage of 91.25%, which is 2.97% less than last year.

A total of 14,16,371 students appearedfor the exam out of which 12,92,468 students passed, according to the results declared by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE).

The Mumbai division stood the lowest among all the nine divisions of the board with a pass percentage of 88.13% (fresh and repeat candidates). Konkan division repeated last year’s show by topping again with 96.01%.

“The results saw a drop in the pass percentage in the state because the board decided to withdraw all the relaxations that were in place during and after the pandemic. This year’s exam was conducted as per the pre-pandemic guidelines,” said Sharad Ghosavi, chairman of the MSBSHSE.

“Overall, this year’s pass percentage is 2.97% lower than 2022, but it is higher than that of 2020. Compliments to the students as well as the teachers,” said Ghosavi.

Prominent among the pandemic-time relaxations that were done away this year included 25% reduction in syllabus and an extra 30 minutes of writing time during exams.

College principals said that the biggest challenge that this year’s HSC batch faced was that this was the first-ever board exams in their lives.

Owing to the second (Delta) wave of Covid-19 pandemic, students of this batch did not appear for their class 10 (SSC) board exams in the summer of 2021. That year, SSC exams were cancelled, and students were promoted to class 11 based on 40% Class 9 performance and 60% internal assessments in Class 10.

“Dedication of the teachers and hard work by the students showed in the results. A high scorer from our college’s arts faculty, scored 100 out of 100 in mathematics, which is an outstanding performance,” said Savio D’souza, vice-principal of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

Meher Mahtani, who scored 95% in Arts at St. Xaviers College, said, “As a student of humanities, I always knew scoring in my subjects was going to be difficult. We have all heard that science is supposed to be hard but high scoring.

“However, for subjects such as political science and psychology, which have so much subjectivity, there are a million ways to answer a question. Our teachers guided us on how to score well,” added Mahtani.

“The key was just to be consistent, more than anything. It involved a lot of support from teachers and family and a lot of late-night studying until 4am. At the end of the day, it all paid off,” said Mahtani.