Poor kids in posh schools score well

Some made parents proud with a perfect 10 in CBSE

Scoring a perfect 10 was not difficult for Neha Gupta, a student of Amity International School, Noida, in her class 10 exam.

 
“My teachers helped me a lot even after classes. I have referred to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and reference books from the library. My parents are excited about my score and I could not have been more thankful for getting this opportunity to study in a good school,” said Neha, who was admitted to the school under the Economically Weaker Sections category.

She wants to opt for Commerce and become a Chartered Accountant.

“I want my parents to be proud of me. I want to become the first CA in my family,” said Neha.

The school has two other EWS students, Jyoti Chaudhary and Anu Singh, who have scored 9.80 cumulative grade point average (CGPA).

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 10 results were declared on Thursday.

The pass percentage of girls stood at 98.48 compared to 97.98 per cent of boys.  
In Springdales School, Pusa Road, close to 20 EWS children sat for the class 10 exam and have scored within the bracket of 5.80 to 8.20 CGPA.

Also, some 18 children with special needs appeared for class 10 exams from Springdales, and who scored above grade 6.

Ameeta Wattal, principal of Springdales School, believes that continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) has helped produce holistic results.

“Students who might not have even qualified their earlier format of board exams have obtained good scores because of CCE. There is definitely a marked improvement in results,” she said.

Three students under the EWS category sat for the exam from Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, this year. Aisha has obtained a CGPA of 9 followed by Anjum and Nisha scoring the same CGPA 7.80.

A P Sharma, principal of Apeejay School, Sheikh Sarai, said the school does not have data to specify the exact number of EWS students but believes that students from disadvantaged groups fair better because of their persistent hard work.

“CCE has helped in boosting children’s confidence. They are not left at the mercy of the examiner they have never met,” said Sharma.

However, Anita Paul, principal of Apeejay School, Saket, said she does not believe CCE has helped in improving performance.

“We cannot really say that the new system has helped in improving performance but I am happy with the result,” she said.

Four EWS students sat for the exam from Apeejay School, Saket. The highest score was 8.80 CGPA, followed by 7.20, 6.80 and 5.80.

L V Sehgal, principal of Bal Bharati Public school, Ganga Ram Marg, agrees that performance has been similar compared to the earlier exam format.

 “But anxiety levels have reduced since children were aware of almost 70 per cent of the marks,” he said.