CBSE Class 12th results 2023: Pune region registers over 3% drop in pass percentage, schools say ‘Covid effect’

The Pune region includes students from Maharashtra, Goa, Daman, and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Its performance was pegged at the eighth spot among all the 16 regions.

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According to school principals who spoke to The Indian Express, the dip in pass percentage this year could be due to the “lack of practice and adequate preparation in some subjects”.

They added that the pandemic had kept the students out of the classrooms for a long and pointed out that in 2020 and 2021, the board had declared the results based on a tabulation policy. Students were marked on the basis of their performance in the previous classes apart from the internal exams and practical assignments, they said.

The principal of a leading school in Pune, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “An indirect effect of Covid was that this year’s batch was not exposed to board examinations while they were in Class 10 two years ago. The lack of practice coupled with the knowledge of how much to prepare for the subjects may have resulted in a dip in the grades in subjects like Mathematics for the science stream.”

However, other school principals in Pune said they were nervous about the performance of their students but were “pleasantly surprised” with the good scores.

Jayashree Venkatraman, Principal, SNBP International School, Rahatani, told The Indian Express, “I am absolutely thrilled with the scores. These results reflect amazing resilience and determination as the students had suffered major academic losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

At SNBP International School, Himnesh Lalchandani secured 96.6 per cent, closely followed by Aditya Bhagwani who scored 96 per cent in the science stream. In the commerce stream, Meenakshi Rajesh and Asmi Shrivastav were among the toppers. Around 17 per cent of the 182 students got more than 90 per cent.

Rupan Jaiswal, Principal, Army Public School, Kirkee, said the students “surpassed expectations”. The toppers included Sephali Patro with 97.2 per cent marks in humanities, Anushaa Shukla with 96.6 per cent in science and Saurabh Dwivedi with 93.6 per cent in commerce.

Jaiswal said, “The other students who deserve special mention are Anjali Sutar, Kundan Giri and Nikta Biswas. Anjali had partial visual impairment while Nikita had a learning disability.”

Amruta Prabhu, Principal of The HDFC school, said the teachers worked hard to overcome the pandemic setback. At her school, Miti Thakkar secured 96.2 per cent in humanities, Gauransh Kumar got 95.2 per cent in science and Shlok Bhatsange secured 92.6 per cent in commerce.

At Sanskriti School, Principal Damini Joshi said the results reflected “the enormous efforts taken by students”. Gauri Jayabhaye is the topper of this school with 96.6 per cent (science).