Srinagar: Girls secured most of the top positions in all the four subject streams in the Class 12 annual examination, the results of which were declared by the J&K Board of School Education (JKBOSE) on Monday.
As per the board’s figures, the pass percentage in the examination is 80 percent, with 46,987 candidates succeeding out of a total of 58,397 who registered for the exams.
The data says that 83 percent of the girls passed the exam, as against 78 percent of the boys.
As per the data, 30,960 boys and 27,437 girls appeared in the annual examination, out of which 24,291 and 22,696 succeeded, respectively.
Besides outshining boys in the pass percentage, girls also dominated the top 10 positions across all the four streams of Science, Commerce, Arts and Home Science.
In Science stream, fours student bagged the first position by securing 100 percent marks (500 out of 500). They include Amal Sayeed of CANDID Higher Secondary School, Nowgam; Hafsa Malik of Iqbal Memorial Institute (Girls Wing) Hr. Sec. School, Bemina; Ishrat Muzafar of Kashmir Harvard HSS Habak, Naseem Bagh Srinagar; and Zainab Quadri of Salfia Muslim Institute Parray Pora Srinagar.
Nine students—six of them girls and 3 of them boys—were at second position with 498 (99.6%) marks while six students with 497 marks (99.4%) were at third position in the Science stream. Five of them were girls.
In Commerce stream, Zeenat Fayaz of Government Girls Hr Sec School, Nawa Kadal Srinagar, bagged first position by securing 493 marks (98.6%) while two students each bagged second (98%) and third (97.6%) positions.
In Home Science, Sabeera Rashid of Govt Girls Hr Sec School, Kothibagh, got 490 (98.0%) marks to grab the first position, while those at the second and third position scored 483 and 482 marks, respectively.
In Arts Stream, Khushboo Nazir of Govt Girls Hr Sec School, Bijbehara, secured first position with 100% marks. The second-position holder secured 497 marks while three students shared the third position with 495 marks.
Of the 124 top scorers in Science stream, 94 were girls. In Commerce, the first 10 positions were shared by 23 students – 17 girls and 6 boys. In Arts, 21 students—all of them girls—shared the first 10 positions. In Home Science, 10 girls shared the first 10 positions.
As per the JKBOSE data, 6,324 private school students scored 90 percentile while 52,073 government school students scored 79 percentile.
As per the data, 23,207 students have secured distinction while as 17,666, 5,670 and 443 students have passed the exams in 1st, 2nd and 3rd division, respectively.
While 288 students have failed, the number of students who would have to reappear in one or more subjects is 11,122.
Ishrat Muzafar, a student of Kashmir Harvard school, is one of the four students who bagged first position in Science stream. “I am very happy; I wasn’t expecting to top the exams,” she told Kashmir Reader.
She said she received emotional support from her parents, which helped lessen her tension. “They never pressured me to score high, which is why I took the exams in a positive spirit,” she said.
“I would give the credit of all my success to my teachers, both school teachers and coaching teachers. I gave importance to all the three aspects of preparation: school, coaching, and self-study. Everything has its own relevance; we can’t skip any of them,” she said.
Hafsa Malik, student of Iqbal Memoral Institute, also secured 1st position in Science stream. She said she gave her 100 percent and was not expecting first position. “Apart from my teacher, my role model is my father,” she said.
She said that since childhood she was passionate about medical science and now her goal is to clear NEET and then become a doctor.
Areeba Javeed, another student of Kashmir Harvard, secured third position in Science stream with 497 marks (99.4 percent). “I give the credit for my success to my parents and to God. There was never any pressure from their side and they stood with me like a rock throughout my preparations. I am obviously very excited. Turning out to be one of the toppers has come as a surprise,” she said.
Gazala Javid, student of Muslim Education Institute Pampore, secured second position in Science stream with 489 marks (99.6 percent). She told Kashmir Reader that whatever she studied, she revised to see how much she had understood of it.
She credited the school staff and self-study for her achievement. “Although the board had relaxed the syllabus, I covered the 100% syllabus with the help of my teachers,” she said.
JKBOSE had relaxed the syllabus for Class 12 exams by 30 percent to 40 percent, in view of the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic. Students were required to attempt only 60 percent of the questions in all the papers.

NAZIMA SIDIQ