Grade expectations! Girls outshine boys in CISCE results — in and outside Delhi – The Times of India

New Delhi: Girls once again outperformed boys in the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and Indian School Certificate (ISC) examinations conducted by Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE). According to the results announced on Wednesday, the pass percentage for ICSE or Class X was 99.09%, and for ISC or Class XII, 99.02%.
In the Class X examinations, girls achieved a pass percentage of 99.45%, surpassing the boys’ 98.64%. A similar trend was observed in the Class XII results, where the girls’ pass percentage was 99.45% compared to 98.64% for the boys.
In 2024, the pass percentage for ICSE was 99.47%, with the girls’ success rate at 99.65% and the boys’ at 99.31%. For the ISC exams, the pass percentage stood at 98.19%—98.82% for girls and 97.53% for boys.
To avoid “unhealthy competition” among students, CISCE discontinued announcing the names of toppers this year too. Instead, it awarded merit certificates to the students among the top 0.1% in each subject, provided there were at least 100 candidates, building on a reform introduced in 2024.
The board has introduced a single consolidated document—pass certificate-cum-statement of marks—streamlining results communication for the qualifying students. “The candidates and stakeholders can access the results on the official CISCE website or through the board’s CAREERS portal. Additionally, the results are available on DigiLocker,” said CISCE chief executive and secretary Joseph Emmanuel. The council also announced that the improvement exams for both ICSE and ISC would be held in July.
A total of 2,52,557 students from 2,803 schools appeared for the Class X exams, with 2,308 students unable to clear them. The Class XII exams had 99,551 candidates across 1,460 schools, of whom 973 did not pass.
In Delhi-NCR, 6,644 students from 56 schools took the ICSE examinations. Among them, 3,600 were boys, out of which 3,584 passed. Of the 3,044 girls, 3,037 cleared it. This translates to an overall pass percentage of 99.65%, with girls once again outperforming boys in the region.
In the ISC examinations, 3,456 students appeared from 46 schools in Delhi-NCR. Of the 1,841 boys, 1,828 passed, while 1,615 girls appeared and 1,610 qualified. The overall pass percentage stood at 99.48%, with girls outshining boys.
The students with special needs also demonstrated commendable performance. Among 1,184 candidates with learning difficulties for the Class X exams, 112 scored above 90% while 13 of the 48 visually challenged candidates also achieved the same. In the ISC exams, 29 of the 257 candidates with learning challenges scored above 90% as did six of the 17 visually challenged students.
Regionally, the western zone recorded the highest pass percentage in ICSE at 99.83%, followed by the southern zone at 99.73%. For ISC, the southern region led with a pass rate of 99.76%, narrowly ahead of the western region’s 99.72%.
The exams started on Feb 18 and concluded on March 27 for Class X, and on Feb 13 and April 5, respectively, for Class XII. The Class X exams were held for 67 written subjects, including 20 Indian and 14 foreign languages, and one classical language. The Class XII exams covered 47 subjects, comprising 12 Indian and four foreign languages, and two classical languages.
This year, CISCE introduced a range of innovative interventions to strengthen the transparency, fairness and efficiency of its examination process. ExamEye, a centralised AI-enabled surveillance system, is one such step, which provided real-time monitoring of examination centres, enhancing logistical security and deterring malpractices. This intervention came in the wake of examinations such as UGC and NEET being under the scanner last year over allegations of paper leaks and other irregularities. All exam centres also had continuous CCTV surveillance. The measures to secure confidential materials were fortified through better coordination with custodians and logistics agencies.