Bhubaneswar, Jun 8 (PTI) Girls outshined boys with a better pass percentage in Class-12 state board exams for arts and vocational streams, the results of which were declared by the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Odisha on Thursday.

Of the 2,30,545 students, 1,81,869 cleared the Plus-II (Arts) examinations, this year, and the overall pass percentage was 78.88, down from 82.80 last year, School and Mass Education Department Secretary Aswathy S said.

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While 70.43 per cent of boy students passed the examinations, the percentage of girls, who cleared the tests, was 85.66, the official said.

Regarding the dip in pass percentage, the department secretary said, "We cannot use this result as a yardstick since the pass percentage is better than that of pre-COVID times."

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The higher secondary board exams were held this year with a 100 per cent syllabus, while students had appeared for the tests with a 70 per cent syllabus last year and 50 per cent in MCQ format, she said.

The exams were conducted from March 2 to April 5.

Similarly, 67.48 per cent of students cleared the examinations in vocational studies this year.

The pass percentage among boys in vocational studies was 64.23 and it was 71.10 for girls.

The overall pass percentage in science and commerce streams, the results of which were declared on May 31, were 84.93 and 81.12 respectively.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)