PUNE: As is the trend nationally in all education boards this year,
Maharashtra's pass percentage in the state board exam for Std X declined by 3.1% as compared to 2022 when it was 96.9%.
Chairman of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Sharad Gosavi attributed the decline to the impact of the pandemic on self-studies, slow pace of writing, a copying-free movement and curb in concessions given for the examination during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gosavi said, "The state board had withdrawn all the concessions given to students last year. There is some impact on their performance and it is reflected in the results of not just Maharashtra but also in the CBSE, CICSE and other state board results this year. Measures undertaken to conduct the exam free of copying also impacted the results up to 1%."
The pass percentage is the lowest in four years - in 2019, it was 82.4% owing to the withdrawal of internal examinations. The next year, internal marks made a comeback and the pass percentage was 97.3.