THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 21 May 2007 — Setting an all-time record, 82.29 percent of total 458,763 students who sat Kerala board exam have passed.
Announcing the results at a press meet here, state Education Minister M.A. Baby said the qualifying level in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination this year surpassed the best performance of 70.06 percent recorded in 2004, thanks to a new grading system doing away with traditional marks and ranks. “We could achieve this without moderation marks as we used to do in the past. It’s a big achievement,” the minister said.
In the regular scheme, 4,269 candidates scored A-plus grade, 20,208 A, 50,441 B-plus, 95,979 B, 162,167 C-plus, 254,650 C, 376,386 D-plus, 71,924 D and 6,076 E. The performance of 104 schools, identified for special attention in view of their poor showing last year, had scored impressive results this year. Under the scheme, “Quality Education, Fundamental Right”, teachers organized house visits and special tuitions.
“It all had a cascading effect,” Baby said. Five of these schools, with 24 percent of the students having no means to buy a lunch, scored cent percent qualifying level, 13 schools 90 percent and 47 schools more than 70 percent.
For these schools, the government had given a special budgetary provision of Rs. 50 million. The role of teachers, local bodies and parents was also significant in lifting these schools.
Gulf Schools Excel
Most of the schools in the Gulf following the Kerala stream have also recorded cent percent pass percentage. Of the 922 students from 16 schools who took the Kerala State Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination 2007, 891 students passed.
Of the 16 schools, 11 schools secured a hundred percent pass percentage.
New Indian Model School, Dubai, UAE had 121 students appearing and 119 passed, the New Indian Model School, Sharjah, had 80 students taking the exam of whom 78 passed, New Indian H.S.S., Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, saw 48 of its 72 students pass, Gulf Model School, Dubai, UAE, had 100 students take the exam and all cleared it, the English School, Umm Al Quwain, saw its 33 students pass, The Indian School, Fujairah, UAE, also recorded cent percent pass among its 46 students, the Model School, Abu Dhabi, UAE, had all its 122 students successful, Crescent English School, Dubai, saw all its 19 students pass, Our Own Indian School, Dubai, had all 47 clear the exam, M.E.S. Indian School, Doha, Qatar, had all its 35 students successful, New Indian Model School, Al Ain, UAE, had all 41 pass, the New Indian School, Umm Al Quwain, had all 18 students pass, East English School, Umm Al Quwain, UAE saw 11 of its 13 students pass, Indian School, Darsait, Muscat, had all its 114 Class 12 students clear the exam.
Al Manal Private School, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, saw all but one of its 25 clearing the exam, Al Majd English School, Dubai, registered cent percent success among its 36 students.
And this year, unlike in previous years, the government met the expenses of the teachers who went to conduct the examination in the Middle East countries.
“In the previous years, the state government used to bear only the airfare and the respective schools used to take care of the hospitality of the teachers from here. This time we asked each school to remit an amount beforehand so as to meet the expenses of the teachers,” said M. Shiv Sankar, director of public instruction.
