Girls savour triumph

CHANDIGARH: As CBSE rolled out its Class X results on Saturday, we let the figures do the talking. The pass percentage of girls in Chandigarh region comprising all affiliated schools of UT, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab stood at an impressive 75.53 per cent while boys had to content with a close 74.53 per cent. The gap was more apparent in the Friday blockbuster of Class XII results, where the fairer sex booed the boy brigade with a thumping pass percentage of 85.01 per cent as opposed to the boy's tepid 74.01 per cent.So, who's the weaker sex? The gender war aside, girls outshining boys in the board examination has almost become an expected norm. And boy, don't the ladies love it! Says an ecstatic Ishita Bhatia who has scored 92.4 per cent in the class X examinations, "I feel great that I could do so well being a student and not necessarily because I am a girl. As I see it, girls and boys are equal. Its just that now we are getting opportunities to show our strength." Kajal, a GCG 11 student also has something similar to add, "That girls are better than boys is a universal fact. Girls are more dedicated, committed and hardworking. The fact that just a few decades ago, we weren't even given the right to education, just shows the thinking of a male dominated society. But then when has approval ever mattered to us. We just want to be the best we can be," enthuses passionate youngster. Now, we aren't making this a women's lib platform but it's interesting nonetheless to explore the reasons why girls are better performers than boys. Neelima Walia, a 93.6 per cent achiever from Sacred Heart School, Sector 26 feels, "Girls are better at learning by rote (ratta baazi) and that's why they write better answer scripts". Meenakshi Mohindra, principal, Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, however, is more kind in her analysis and attributes their success to the level of focus, "It's generally observed that boys roam around and waste time whereas girls are more result oriented." Lest the boys feel hurt, she hastens to add that "sex bias should disappear now and competition between a boy and a girls should be seen as a competition between two individuals who want to excel." Dr B S Chavan, head of department, psychiatry, GMCH 32, gives his expert opinion, "The level of intelligence of boys and girls is the same. However the level of distraction is less in girls who are by nature are more focused. They are also more sincere because of social pressures and don't like to waste time as opposed to boys who are more outgoing."