Significant increase in girls in Bengal Class 10 exams: Official

There has been a significant increase in number of girls compared to male candidates who appeared in the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) class 10 exams this year, a board official said on Tuesday.

Around 11.4 lakh students appeared for the Class 10 exams (called 'Madhyamik') this year and around 54.59 percent were girls.

"This year a significant increase in female candidates (6,24,308) has been observed compared to male students (5,19,789). This clearly indicates that there is a growing urge not only to send girls to school but also to continue their study at least up to the secondary level," said WBBSE administrator Kalyanmoy Ganguly.

Further, female Muslim candidates outnumbered male students form the community, Ganguly said.

Performance of candidates hailing from districts is better than students from the state capital Kolkata in the WBBSE exams, observed Education Minister Partha Chatterjee after the declaration of results on Tuesday.

The highest pass percentage was registered by East Midnapore district (93.10 percent) followed by Kolkata with 90.62 percent.

"Though Kolkata has done well it is a bit behind the districts. It is not just one district... Cooch Behar, Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly and so many other districts have done well," Chatterjee said here.

As many as 66 students figured in the provisional top ten merit list but only two made it to the list from Kolkata.

Souvik Barman, a student of Mathabhanga High School in Cooch Behar district ranked first in the exam obtaining 683 marks.

--IANS

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