Nagpur Division Hits HSC Rock Bottom Again

Nagpur: The Nagpur division's laggard run in the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations continued for the third consecutive year, as it once again finds itself near the bottom of the state rankings. With an overall pass percentage of 88.67%, the division has slipped nearly two percentage points compared to last year, while other divisions like Amravati soared above.In Nagpur division, out of 1,53,256 registered students, 1,52,230 appeared for the examination, of whom 1,34,988 cleared it. Despite the large number of successful candidates, Nagpur ranked eighth among Maharashtra's nine divisions, ahead of only Latur, which recorded the lowest pass percentage of 84.14%.Statewide, the overall pass percentage stood at 89.79%, with Konkan division retaining its top position at 94.14%, followed by Pune at 91.25% and Amravati at 90.92%. Notably, Amravati division registered a significant improvement, jumping from 5th to 3rd rank this year, in contrast to Nagpur's continued stagnation.Within the Nagpur division, the Science stream delivered a strong performance with a pass percentage of 97.28%. Commerce students recorded 84.53%, while Arts lagged considerably behind at 75.59%, highlighting a sharp disparity across streams.Another worrying indicator of the Nagpur division's performance is the sharp scarcity of high scorers. Only 4.75% of students in the division managed to secure marks above 75%, placing Nagpur 8th among the nine divisions in this category as well. In contrast, Nashik topped the state with 14.94% students crossing the 75% mark, followed by Amravati at 13.29% and Mumbai at 12.06%. Even the likes of Kolhapur (5.10%) outpaced Nagpur, highlighting the widening gap in quality outcomes. Only Latur fared worse, with 4.64% of students scoring above 75%. Gender-wise, girls again outperformed boys by a significant margin. While 92.5% of girls in Nagpur passed the examination, the pass percentage among boys stood at 84.9%, continuing a consistent trend of better performance by female students across the division.District-wise analysis reveals notable variations in performance. Nagpur district emerged as the best performer with a pass percentage of 91.66%, followed by Gondia at 89.59%, Chandrapur at 88.72%, Wardha at 87.52%, and Bhandara at 84.12%. Gadchiroli recorded the lowest performance in the division, with only 9,931 students passing out of 12,470, translating to a pass percentage of 79.63%.Officials have attributed the dip in results to stricter evaluation standards this year. Shivling Patwe, divisional chairman of the Maharashtra State Board in Nagpur, stated that the tightening of assessment criteria has impacted overall scores. He emphasised that the results should be viewed in a positive light, as stricter evaluation ensures better academic standards and a more accurate reflection of students' understanding.