CBSE Board 12th Results: Girls Outshine Boys Again

The battle of the two sexes is nowhere more pronounced as it is in the academic field in India, and in that too, among that particular chunk of youth that has to appear for their 12th Board examinations.

In a country, which has often been deemed too unfriendly and unsafe for the fairer (and given this headline, dare we say smarter too?) sex, the summer brings a sweet victory when you see girls across the nation outperforming the boys. This has been a trend in the last few years, and this year too, it was the girls who broke academic records as well as expectations, with their amazing performance in the Board examinations.

Taking Board examinations is a rite of passage for the youth of our country. It symbolizes the end of one’s childhood and acts as a stepping stone to the adult world. And given this esteemed status, it also puts a certain amount of pressure to perform well on the young minds. But as the young girls in our country have repeatedly told us, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Girls Win All The Laurels

Girls Win All The Laurels

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The result of the CBSE 12th Boards which was released on last Thursday, saw girls beating the boys in terms of the pass percentage. While the pass percentage of the boys was 79.4, the girls scored a pass percentage of 88.70! What this actually means is that of all the boys who appeared for this examination, about 79.4 percent passed, while in case of girls, 88.70 percent of the girls cleared the examination. Even the transgender category scored an impressive pass percentage of 83.3! Overall it had been a good year for senior secondary education as the total pass percentage stood at 83.04 (1)

A total of around 13 lakh students appeared for the exam this year, which was conducted on a massive scale around the country. While we have established that girls did better in general, the crowning glory of being the topper went to a girl (actually, it’s two girls)! Hansika Shukla, and Karishma Arora, both of whom belong to the state of Uttar Pradesh and also tied for the first position by scoring 499 out of 500.

The second position was also a tie between three girls — Gaurangi Chawala (Rishikesh), Aishwarya (Raebareli), and Bhavya (Jind) who all scored 498 out of 500. That’s right people, these girls scored a near perfect score!

The Secret To Success

The Secret To Success

Hindustan Times

Sharing the secret behind her success with a leading newspaper, Hansika explained it as a result of consistent hard work and positivity. She said “ My success mantra is a belief in self and to never think anything is impossible. I take all competitions positively. Success comes when you better yourself…”

With a cent percent score in all subjects, except for one, English, Hansika said that she really regrets losing that one mark but is okay with it as she acknowledges that it’s quite impossible to get objective marks in the language.

Talking about her preparation strategy she also mentioned the support of her family that led her to achieve this feat, “ If I don’t give 100% I will not get 100% back. I would attribute my success to my family and teachers…”

The Secret To Success1

Hindustan Times

On the other hand, her co-topper, Karishma Arora admitted to working hard but said that she never imagined that she would top the exams. While these two had their eyes on the target, this year saw many girls acing the academics despite maintaining a healthy interest in the extracurriculars. As is the case with Pramila and Mehakpreet Kaur of BCM Arya Model Senior School, both of whom managed to score above 90 percent in spite of representing their school in the CBSE national badminton championship. So, maybe girls can do it all!

More power to these young girls for their uninhibited attempts to shatter the glass ceiling, but to all our young readers, we want to say this, these marks can’t be the quantifier for your success in life. They measure skills, not your knowledge or acumen in handling life and the curveballs it throws your way. The only real purpose these exams do serve is preparing one for the tough competition that they have to face in their adult life, by helping them develop skills such as time management.

If you didn’t score as well in these exams, don’t lose heart for all is not lost, many of the famous personalities who have made it big in the world haven’t been big scorers in the academic world. What they did have though was the spirit of perseverance in them. And in the end, that along with your consistent hard work and talent will determine the course of your life.