CBSE Board Class 10, 12 Result 2023: The Central Board of Secondary Education's (CBSE) Class 10 and 12 results, declared Friday, saw performance of students settling at pre-pandemic levels, with the overall pass percentage dipping in both classes, and fewer students scoring above 90 per cent and 95 per cent, respectively. Class 12 recorded a pass percentage of 87.33 per cent, compared to 92.71 per cent in 2022, when the board examination was bifurcated. Overall, out of about 16.6 lakh candidates in Class 12, about 14.5 lakh passed, while 20.2 lakh of 21.6 lakh candidates cleared Class 10. In 2021, when board exams could not be held due to the raging pandemic, results had touched a record high, with both class 12 and class 10 pass percentages breaching the 99 per cent mark as students were assessed based on their scores in previous exams, practical exams and internal assessments. However, with the return of board examinations in 2022, the performance levels got largely aligned with the results seen before the onset of the pandemic in 2020. And with CBSE restoring the single exam format for the 2022-23 batch of class 10 and 12, the numbers have tempered further. The overall Class 12 pass percentage of 87.33 is not just lower than 2022 (92.71 per cent) and 2021 (99.37 cent), but 2020 (88.78 per cent) as well. However, it is significantly better than 2019, when the pass percentage was 83.4 per cent. Similarly, in the case of Class 10, the pass percentage of 93.12 is lower than last year's 94.4 per cent and 2021 (99.04 per cent). In 2020, the Class 10 pass percentage was 91.46 per cent. The pass percentage of both boys and girls dipped. However, like previous years, girls did better, with their pass percentage in Class 10 standing at 94.25, compared to 92.27 per cent of boys, while in Class 12, girls registered a pass percentage of 90.68, as against 84.67 per cent of boys. The number of students scoring above 90 per cent and 95 per cent has also declined, both in Class 10 and Class 12. In Class 12, as many as 22,622 candidates — which translates to 1.36 per cent of those who took the exam — scored 95 per cent and above this year, lower than last year's 2.33 per cent, 5.37 per cent in 2021, 3.24 per cent in 2020, and 1.47 per cent in 2019. In 2018, 1.15 per cent students fell in this category. Also, 6.8 per cent students — 112828 in absolute numbers — scored 90 per cent and above in Class 12, compared to 9.39 per cent in 2022, 11.51 per cent in 2021, and 13.24 per cent in 2020. Teachers feel several factors, including a certain degree of restraint exercised by the CBSE, are behind these drops. “During the Covid years, a lot of relaxations were given by the CBSE and this year no relaxation was given so naturally that made a difference.Students are coming back to school after almost two years which created a learning gap and secondly, this year I think CBSE also took a stern view. Most of the 100s have come to 99. I have seen in my own school that we had about 23 instances of 100s last year but this year it has reduced by almost 50 per cent,” said Suruchi Gandhi, Principal, Bal Bharti Public School, New Delhi. A similar trend emerges when this year's Class 10 results are compared with the pandemic and pre-pandemic years. For instance, overall, 44,297 Class 10 students — or 2.05 per cent of all candidates — scored 95 per cent and above this year. Last year, 64,908 — or 3.1 per cent of all candidates — scored in the same range. Moreover, 1,95,799 — or 9.04 per cent of all Class 10 candidates — scored 90 per cent and above this year, down from 2,36,993 — or 11.32 per cent of candidates — in 2022. Modern Public School, New Delhi, principal Alka Kapur said the number of students with a perfect score has declined by 10 per cent at her school as well. “I think, children were not used to eight hours of schooling because they were more on the gadgets and the discipline of the parents and students was also affected. It took a little while for teachers also to get back on track since they were also working from home during Covid,” Kapur said.
