Bengaluru North & South top list of A+ in SSLC exam, Dakshina Kannada in third place

Time of India

22-05-2025

Bengaluru: Bengaluru may not be the best in the state in terms of pass percentage for SSLC examination, but it indeed produced the maximum number of high scorers.
The largest cohort of A+ graders in the state were from Bengaluru South and North.
As many as 4,684 students secured A+ (marks in the range of 90%-100%) for class 10 exams in Bengaluru South, while 4,622 students in Bengaluru North are in this bracket.
Dakshina Kannada has the third largest number of students (4,174) with A+. Over 55,000 students in the state achieved this.
In terms of pass percentage, Bengaluru South is in 10th position and Bengaluru North in 11th. Udupi, which ranked first in terms of pass percentage, had 2,060 A+ students.
An analysis by Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board shows that Bengaluru South also has the highest number of A graders. While 8,308 students from this region have an A grade, 6,575 students from Bengaluru North have secured A grades.
"There is nothing to be surprised," said AS Seetharamu, former professor at Institute for Social and Economic Change. "SSLC is the zenith of a pyramid of schooling. It is built layer by layer from solid foundations.
Bengaluru South, for several decades, has some of the best preschools. Children acquire communication skills at an early age. A large middle class and non-migrant population is in Bengaluru South. To a slightly lower degree, Bengaluru North is a replica of South.
Naturally, the pursuit of excellence in schooling, both in infrastructure and student effort, integrated with parental guidance and paid private coaching, all contributing to superior grades for larger groups," he said.
"Udupi and Dakshina Kannada cannot be compared with Bengaluru South and North. The former are districts with a heavy rural population. Results are as expected," he added.
Manjunath HK, president of Karnataka High School Teachers Association, said: "The number of students in private schools is more than that of govt schools in Bengaluru. Some of these schools are old and established, and provide a solid foundation from primary school.
There is also huge support from parents, self-motivation and better accessibility to resources. All of it leads to better results."
Meanwhile, students across the state have secured good grades in subsidiary subjects like art education, health and wellness, attitude and values and work experience. "That is just an eyewash. Most govt schools do not even have teachers for physical education or art education. They are not assessed, but marks are randomly given," said a teacher.
As per KSEAB, 7.3 lakh students have A grade, 59,421 students have B grade, and 1,169 have C grade. In art, 6.9 lakh have A grade, 95,976 have B grade, and 2,793 have C grade. In attitude and values and work experience, 6.9 lakh students have A grades.
SECOND STORY
Educators call for inclusion of internal marks in SSLC final results to improve scores
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Bengaluru: Amid consistently low pass rates in SSLC examination, educators across the state are urging the department of school education and literacy to revise regulations and incorporate internal assessment marks into the final results.
Currently, Karnataka allocates approximately 20 marks for internal assessments, but these scores are not factored into final results. Students must achieve 35% in each of the six subjects to pass — the pass mark is 28 in second and third languages, maths, science and social science, and 44 in the first language as the exam is out of 125.
This contrasts with other education boards across India. Maharashtra recorded a 94.18% pass rate in 2025, falling slightly from 95.81% in 2024, where students need a combined 35% from both internal and external examinations.
Similarly, CBSE includes all 20 internal assessment marks when calculating final results.
Tamil Nadu's system allocates 25 internal marks for science and 10 for other subjects, with final mark sheets showing only the total out of 100. Science students must secure at least 20 marks in the external examination to pass.
Karnataka's SSLC-1 pass rate stood at just 63% this year. While authorities attributed the decline to stricter anti-malpractice measures through CCTV monitoring, the 2023 results reached only 84%, still considerably lower than neighbouring states.
"It is the same textbooks that both CBSE and state syllabus students study for mathematics and science. However, if a student gets 20 for internals and 15 for externals, CBSE student passes and the other fails.
How unfair is that? The students are studying the same material in the same environment, but results vary," a PU college principal pointed out.
A private school principal said the idea of having internal assessments is to have continuous assessment and not test a student based on only one exam.
"If those marks are finally not counted, what is the point of having them at all?" the principal asked.
The Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools of Karnataka included this recommendation in their memorandum to the department, following the announcement of SSLC results. Trilok Chandra BV, commissioner, however said the department has not yet discussed the issue.