A district, which was placed 22nd with a pass percentage of 72.56 in the SSLC exam results in the last academic year, comfortably surpassed elite education districts, Bangalore North (14th) and South (22nd).
“Bangalore rural was never in the top five. A ninth-place finish seven years ago was the district's best performance. This year's performance, however, is due to a number of measures,” Venkatesh, Deputy Education Director of the district, told Deccan Herald.
Unexpected
The officer, however, admitted that a second-place finish was unexpected. “We were confident of a place in top five after inspecting the preparations for exams in schools in January,” he added.
Last September, ten resource persons had prepared model question papers. Later in December, 20 such papers were printed and sent to all schools, Venkatesh said.
Each day since January 4, students were given the opportunity to write answers in every subject. Further, they were asked to evaluate their answer sheets under the guidance of their teachers, he said.
According to Venkatesh, his office closely examined the comprehensive report sent by each school after conducting exams of six subjects in a week. "A team was constituted to look into the preparatory exams conducted across the district," he added.
“Conduct of regular exams not only helped in warding off testophobia among the students but also boosted their confidence. Also, parents, teachers, and school managements were strictly instructed against creating a fear psychosis among the students,” he said.
Out of 13,483 students who appeared for the exams, 10,680 passed - 5450 out of 6815 boys and 5450 out of 6669 girls cleared the hurdle.
Among taluks, Devanahalli led with 83.25 pc, Nelamangala (82.69 pc), Doddaballapura (78.97 pc) and Hoskote (78.34 pc). As many as 38 schools reported 100 pc results.
