Bangalore, 10 May 2011: Second Pre-university Course (II PUC) results in Karnataka took a step back this year, with the pass percentage failing to cross the psychologically important 50 per cent barrier.
After an impressive increase in the pass percentage last year, when results rose by 6 per cent, this year saw a minor blip of 0.4 per cent in the overall pass percentage.
More importantly, the pass percentage among fresh candidates fell by a significant 2.5 per cent this year to 59.44 per cent. Releasing the results, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Visweshwar Hegde Kageri said that out of 6.21 lakh candidates—including students under fresher, private, and repeater categories—only 3.03 lakh candidates passed the examination.
Silver lining
The silver lining in all this is that close to half the candidates who passed secured a first class or distinction. Nearly 1.36 lakh candidates secured a first class, 12,000 secured distinction.
Girls significantly outperformed boys yet again, securing 56.92 pass percentage.
However, this was a drop of 0.5 per cent from last year’s results. Boys secured a pass percentage of 42 per cent, virtually unchanged from last year.
Driving home the girls’ superiority in performance, even though there were 50,000 more boys appearing for the II PU exam, there were 20,000 more girls than boys who cleared the exam. Region-wise, coastal Karnataka and Malnad performed the best, while North Karnataka—with Hyderabad-Karnataka in particular—faring the worst.
No change
There was no change among the top five districts, with the coastal districts performing the best. Udupi secured the highest pass percentage of 87.14, followed by Dakshina Kannada (86.58 per cent), and Uttara Kannada (73.04).
However, following the pattern of overall results, the pass percentage has fallen in all three districts compared with last year’s. These three were followed by Kodagu and Chamarajnagar.
The bottom five districts were all from the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, with Yadgir securing the lowest pass percentage of 29.92 pc. This was down from last year’s pass percentage of 33.47.
The most improved districts this year were Haveri and Bagalkot, which have jumped seven places in the district-wise rankings.
Haveri improved its pass percentage by four points, while Bagalkot improved its pass percentage by five points. Bellary saw its pass percentage drop by a whopping seven points.
Top 5 districts
District Pass percentage
1. Udupi 87.14
2. Dakshina Kannada 86.58
3. Uttara Kannada 73.04
4. Kodagu 72.14
5. Chamarajnagar 70.45
Bottom 5
District Pass percentage
1. Bijapur 45.78
2. Bidar 45.23
3. Raichur 39.09
4. Koppal 37.47
5. Yadgir 29.92