The number of students clearing the high school or Class 10 and intermediate or Class 12 board examinations of the UP Board fluctuated significantly in the past decade due to strict anti-copying measures implemented from time to time, an expert said on Thursday.
The lowest pass percentage of 40.07 in the high school exam was registered in 2008 and the highest at 87.66 was recorded in 2016. Similarly, in the intermediate exam, the lowest pass percentage of 65.05 was recorded in 2008 and the highest of 92.68 was registered in 2013.
Lal Mani Diwedi, the state general secretary of Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh (UPMSS), said the number of students clearing both the high school and intermediate exams is expected to decline this year as compared to last year. The results are slated to be declared on Friday.
The board deployed strict measures to curb the use of unfair means in the board examinations this year and as a result 5,94,503 lakh students quit the exams midway and 1862 examinees were caught copying. This year, the board also provided coded answer sheets in 31 districts of the state that were identified as sensitive in order to check cheating during the exams.
In some districts, mass copying was reported due to which 69 exams of various subjects were cancelled and 91 schools were debarred from holding the board exams for the next five years.
Diwedi said the political will to check copying has played a major role in determining the overall pass percentage in the exams.
“During the Bharatiya Janata Party rule with Kalyan Singh as the chief minister, the overall pass percentage of high school had come down to around a mere 14%. However, it again started to rise when the Samajwadi Party came back to power but during the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) rule with Mayawati as the chief minister, the pass percentage again dropped between 2007 and 2012. However, during the SP rule between 2012 and 2017 the overall pass percentage for high school remained above 80,” he said.
Diwedi said the pass percentage in high school and intermediate exams could drop to around 50 if not this year then the next.
UP Board secretary Shail Yadav also admitted earlier that the results of high school and intermediate exams could witness a drop in terms of overall pass percentage in comparison to the previous years due to the strict anti-copying measures that were implemented this year.
In 2017, 60,61,034 examinees - 34,04,715 in high school and 26,56,319 in intermediate - registered to appear in the exam.
