Class 11 board: 23 districts register over 90 per cent pass, Erode girls steal show with 98.3 per cent

Analysing the gender-wise performance, the highest pass percentage among girls was in Erode with 98.3 per cent. Tuticorin stood second with 98 per cent. Among the boys, Erode came first again with 96 per cent, followed by Tirupur with 95 per cent. 

In the government schools category, only 10 districts were able to cross an overall pass percentage of 90 per cent. These were Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Ramanathapuram, Sivagangai, Virudhunagar, Tirupur, Erode, Namakkal and Karur. 

Erode was ranked first with 95.6 per cent among government scools also, followed by Tirupur with 93 per cent and Karur with 92.9 per cent. Villupuram with 73.6 per cent was the lowest ranking district. 

In the visually-challenged category, several districts such as Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Ramanthapuram, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Dindugul, Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Karur, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Puducherry, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram and Chennai recorded pass percentages of 100 per cent. 

In the deaf & dumb category, Tuticorin, Sivagangai, Theni, Tirupur, Dharmapuri, Pudukottai, Karur, Ariyalur, Permabalur and Thanjavur secured 100 per cent. Among the physically-challenged candidates, only Namakal scored a 100 per cent overall.

Fate may have snuffed away her life abruptly, but it couldn’t stop this differently-abled girl from scripting success in the examination. B Preethi of Coimbatore, who suffered from spinal muscular atrophy from birth, scored 471/ 600 in the Class 11 examination. But Preethi is not there to rejoice her incredible achievement. 

Preethi died on May 18 due to acute illness. A student of government higher secondary school at Seeranaickenpalayam, she recorded an impressive score of 468/500 in Class 10 board exams last year. The girl, who was immobile as both her hands and legs were paralysed, was carried to school daily by her gritty mother B Bhuvaneshwari. 

After Class 10, Preethi wished to study commerce as she could not do the practical sessions mandated in other groups. Also, going to a different school located far away was impossible. Considering her special plea, the state education department had introduced commerce group at the same school in Seeranaickenpalayam last year.

Until then, the school had only biology, computer science and other vocational groups. Unable to sit upright due to her condition, Preethi used to lie down on the table in the classroom to learn her lessons. “My dream is to become a collector and serve people,” Preethi had once said. 

Her father, M Babu (47), is a daily wager and mother is working as a temporary staff in the same school. Her parents remained inconsolable on seeing their only daughter’s good marks. Preethi had scored 93 in Tamil, 54 in English, 68 in Economics, 74 in Business Maths, 88 in Commerce and 94 in Accountancy in the examination. “She used to be very focused in class. Preethi neither considered her disability a disadvantage nor gave excuses in learning her lessons. 

Our school and the education department helped her in all means by even introducing the commerce stream. We saw her as a girl with hope and determination, but her untimely death has saddened us immensely,” said V Saravanan, headmaster of the school.

Continuing its impressive show, three western districts have secured top three ranks in Tamil Nadu in the Class 11 results announced by the Education Department on Wednesday. 

Erode, which stood second in Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations, emerged as the top district in Class 11 board examination. Of the 24,359 students who took the examination from 213 schools, 23,696 students have cleared the exam, securing an overall pass percentage of 97.3. Officials of the Education Department in Tirupur, which came second by registering 96.4 per cent, shared their joy by distributing sweets. Of the 24,903 students who took the exam, 24,007 students passed with a pass percentage of 96.4. Registering 96.2 per cent, Coimbatore came third, with 33, 747 students out of 35,850 clearing the exam. Chief Education Officer (CEO) of Coimbatore P Ayyannan said special efforts would be taken to further improve the results of government schools by 95 per cent next year. From Namakkal, out of 22,867 students, 21,859 passed the exam and secured the fifth rank with 95.59 per cent. Girls have registered 2.81 per cent more than the boys from Namakkal. In Salem, 35,949 students cleared the examination from 39,538 students and registered a 90.92 pass percentage.

The overall pass percentage of Vellore and Tiruvannamalai in the Class 11 board examination results were 84.95% and 85.15% respectively. The Tamil Nadu Directorate of Government Examinations announced the results on Wednesday. In Vellore, 41, 056 students, including 22,103 girls, appeared for the exam and 34, 878 students, including 19,985 girls, passed. The district is at 31st spot in the overall pass percentage. Tiruvannamalai district came 30th in Tamil Nadu. Out of 27,706 students, including 14, 462 girls, appeared for the exam, 23, 291 passed. A total of 36 schools achieved 100 per cent pass. Education officials were taken aback as the district was placed almost at the tail end of the rank list. When asked, officials said the poor results were due to the large number of government schools and government-aided schools in Vellore.