With flying colours: Bengaluru records 98.9% pass in CBSE Class 10 exam

BENGALURU: Bengaluru region, which includes all CBSE schools in Karnataka, achieved a pass percentage of 98.9% in the Class 10 exam, same as that of academic year 2025. The results were announced Wednesday.

Bengaluru region slipped to third position among all regions under CBSE. Thiruvananthapuram and Vijayawada retained their first position with 99.8%. Chennai pipped Bengaluru to get the second spot with 99.6%.

Nationally, the pass percentage was 93.7%, a marginal increase of 0.04% from last year. CBSE said this confirms that “students are well prepared for competency-based assessment”. Around 95% girls passed as compared to 93% boys.

For the first time, CBSE is introducing two board examinations for Class 10 students, prompting the board to release results early. Else, the results are usually announced in the second week of May. The next exam is scheduled for May. Students were required to appear in at least three subjects during the first examination, which serves as the main examination.

Around 9% of the students — that is, 2,21,574 of them — got 90% and above. A total of 2.2% (55,368 students) received more than 95%. CBSE reiterated that there will be no merit list or first, second or third divisions. Instead, it will issue the merit certificate to the top 0.1% of students who scored the highest marks in the subjects.

While Bengaluru schools witnessed several exemplary performances, maths was the dampener in many cases. “Maths was a tough and lengthy paper. We had expected that some students might lose out on marks in the subject. Scoring in the rest of the subjects was extremely good,” said Jayanti Nair, principal, National Public School, Banashankari.

Agreed Meetali Archit, principal, Nagarjuna Vidyaniketan: “The scoring in science and social sciences is better than last year. But, in maths, the scoring is less. Many students have expressed interest in writing the next exam for improving the maths score.”

Gear International School said the scoring was better than last year. Veda MN, principal of Hillrock NPS said a few tricky MCQs in social science kept some students from scoring centums. Scoring in artificial intelligence and information technology was high for most students. While English was good for a large majority, some schools saw a slight dip in languages.

Lavanya G, principal, Mount Litera Zee School, said eight of the 38 students have applied for the next examination. “Students took the exam a tad lighter because they were convinced that they have another chance. Every change has pros and cons,” she said.

Among the states, Kerala tops the chart with 99.9% pass, followed by Tamil Nadu (99.8%), Karnataka (98.9%), Maharashtra (98.4%), and Punjab (98.1%).

In Bengaluru region, 1,01,660 students appeared, of which 1,00,554 passed. A total of 1,087 students are placed in compartment exams, which comes to 1.07%.Get real-time updates and result insights on the CBSE 12 Result 2026.