Pune girl tops all-India list with 99.80% score as girls outshine boys in ICSE results

A total of 26,083 students appeared for the exam, conducted by the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), from 245 schools across the state. The state has recorded a 100 per cent pass percentage in the exam.

A number of students from Mumbai also featured in the all-India merit list, one of whom is Amolika Mukherjee from Jamnabai Narsee School who, with 99.60 per cent score, stood second in the state as well as the country. Multiple students from Maharashtra, including nine from different schools in Mumbai, shared the All-India Rank (AIR) 2 with Amolika with 99.60 score.

Once again, girls outperformed boys in the exam. While boys, 14,121 of whom appeared for the exam, recorded a pass score of 99.99 per cent, 100 per cent of the 11,961 girls who appeared for the exam cleared it.

“Amid uncertainties during the past couple of years, it was important to maintain focus on consistency in efforts,” said Amolika, who has now shifted to Kolkata, her hometown. She is preparing to appear for NEET after class XII. “Looking at efforts of the frontline workers during the pandemic, I feel it will be a privilege to be part of this community,” she added.

Amolika is also a trained Hindustani classical singer and her school principal, Kalpana Patange, describes her as: “A versatile student, keen performer and a regular singer on the school’s stage.”

For Aadya Gaur from Poddar International School in Nerul, Navi Mumbai, her score of 99.60 was something beyond her expectations. “We had two board exams wherein one was objective while the second was subjective. Most were not sure about what was happening until the last moment,” said Aadya who is happy to see that “everything has worked out in the end”.

According to Bela Dighe from G D Somani Memorial School who has an identical score, it has been a “peculiar” year. “Starting from the confusion over which board exam will be conducted or not to having to appear for two different types of board exams in a year, it has been quite a change. But I am glad that offline exams were conducted,” said Bela, daughter of a scientist from TIFR.

Kashyap Khandelwal from Vasudev C Wadhwa, Arya Vidya Mandir in Bandra, who too has scored 99.60, said, “The toughest part of this academic year was to stay afloat through all the uncertainty. There was more pressure because of two exams,” said Kashyap.

For Vedaang Kharya from Euroschool in Airoli, the most difficult part was the absence of any old question paper for reference for the objective exam held in the first semester of the Board year. “I have participated in multiple Olympiads and so the MCQ-pattern question paper was familiar to me,” said the amateur magician who hopes to join one of the IITs to pursue engineering.

Varsha Shyam Sundar from Dhirubhai Ambani International School, who also scored 99.60 per cent, said, “I wasn’t thinking of the score while I prepared for the exam.” With mathematics and physics being her favourite subjects, she said she plans to pursue engineering for higher education. “I hope to apply my engineering knowledge to help the environment,” she added.

(Inputs from ENS, Pune)