GUWAHATI, May 31 - The High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination results, which were declared today, saw a significant dip in the success rate of students this year, with 47.94 per cent of those appearing in the examination clearing it as against 62.79 per cent last year.
The pass percentage is the lowest after 2003 when it was 44.11.
The significant drop in the pass percentage is being blamed on the stricter moderation policy adopted by the SEBA following an uproar over the �hidden� grace marks the board had been awarding over a period of time.
Scoring 589 out of 600, Parthapratim Bhuyan of Jatiya Vidyalaya (Tihu) topped the list of 29 rank holders. Tannayoee Hazarika of BVFC Model High School (Namrup, Dibrugarh), Rajanya Kashyap Gogoi of Salt Brook School (Dibrugarh) and Nurul Hoque Ali of Raghunath Choudhury HS School (Nalbari) bagged the second rank jointly with 588 marks, while Bhargobpratim Borah of Pichala National Academy in Jarabari of Lakhimpur stood third with 587 marks.
In what came as a shock, Guwahati lost its dominance in the rankings, with the city schools failing to secure even a single spot in the list of top ten.
A total of 3,72,640 students had appeared in the examination of which 1,78,656 cleared it. The number of first division holders are 54,955, while those getting second and third divisions are 80,179 and 43,522 respectively.
Interestingly, though the pass percentage dipped significantly, the number of first division holders saw a jump from 54,197 last year to 54,955.
The pass percentage of male students was better at 49.41. The female pass percentage is 46.51.
Nalbari outshone other districts with an overall pass percentage of 65.86, followed by Darrang with 64.39 per cent.
Dibrugarh has the highest number of rank holders at six, followed by Barpeta with five and three each in Nalbari, Jorhat and Darrang. Students got the maximum letter marks in English (27,494), followed by Social Science (14,381) and Assamese (13,015).
Altogether 4,312 students got distinction marks (510 aggregate marks and above) while 11,312 students secured star marks (450 and above).
Meanwhile, in the Assam High Madrassa Examination, 10,116 students had appeared and of them 5,278 or 52.17 per cent cleared the exam. While 821 secured first division, 2,556 got second division and 1,901 got third division marks. The pass percentage among male students was 54.15 while that of female was 50.53.
Taibur Rahman Khan of Ambari Kartimari High Madrassa (Goalpara) came first on the merit list with 537 marks. Mamuni Khanom (520) of Airkata Girls High Madrassa in Dhubri secured the second position, while Ruhul Amin of Anchalik High Madrassa (Barpeta) and Shahanaz Khatun of Hilapakri High Madrassa (Howly) came joint third with 518 marks each.
