Kerala Education Minister, M A Baby, said all students in 12 out of 14 Indian schools in the Gulf counties had passed the exams with eligibility for higher studies. A total of 666 students from the Gulf had appeared for the examination held in March this year. Out of this 658 have secured the eligibility for higher studies.

Sixteen students from The Model School, Abu Dhabi, secured A+ in all the ten papers, giving them the distinction of being the top scorers this year. This is the third consecutive year since the board adopted absolute grading, where pupils’ marks would not be disclosed. Instead the board reveals only grades.

Schools observe that the number of students appearing for the Kerala Board exams in the UAE and elsewhere were dwindling by the year due to several reasons. Over 560 students from 12 schools in the UAE appeared for the SSLC exam this year compared to a strong 900 in 2008.

“The number of students appearing for the exams are coming down each year. One of the main reasons is because of the board’s decision to withhold marks and only reveal grades. This seems to have made parents unhappy, resulting in them shifting their wards to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE),” said Surendran Nair, vice principal of New Indian Model School (NIMS), Dubai, adding “We anticipate a futher decrease in numbers next year.”

He added that the other reason was that the CBSE pattern of exams permitted sufficient holidays between exams, giving students enough time to learn, which is not so in the Kerala Board.

The Kerala Board was one of the first to adopt the grading system in an attempt to alleviate stress levels among students.

The overall pass percentage of the examination held in 2,731 centres spread across Kerala, Lakshadweep and Gulf is 91.92 per cent. Altogether 410,348 out of 446,554 students who appeared for the examination have become eligible for higher education.

Stating that the government had made all arrangements to accommodate all the students eligible for higher education, the Education Minister said 405,259 seats were available for higher education, including VHS, Polytechnic, ITI and ITC.

A total of 703 schools, including 148 government schools, have succeeded in producing cent per cent results. Trichut district secured the highest with 402 students securing A + grade in all subjects. As many as 7,073 students have succeeded in scoring A + in all subjects, as against 6,480 students in the previous year.

The Education Minister said the government had made all arrangements to start the Plus-One class on July 8. Admissions under the Single Window system introduced last year will commence immediately.

Below are the results of each school -

The Model School, Abu Dhabi

About 116 students appeared for the SSLC examination. All of them passed and 16 students secured A+ in all the 10 papers. The students who secured A+ in all papers are Ann Mariya Varghese, Anna Varghese Padinjareth, Shamili Manjeri Baby, Shilpa Vijay, Thampuratthi Lakshmi Raja, Aiswarya Elattuvalappil, Aysha Mehrin Varikkodan, Jeeva Johnny Pallipuram, Nahla Abdul Nassar, Swathy Prameela Sasikumar, Akash Rahangan, Kiran Saju Narekattil, Mohammed Shamees, Muhammed Siyam Salim, Sooraj Sukumaran, Abilash Vadakmuriyil.

Al Majd Indian School, Dubai

About 36 students appeared for the exam. All of them passed and Benna Iqbal topped the School with A+ grades in all subjects.

New Indian Model School, Dubai

A total of 88 students appeared for the examination and all of them passed. Laxmi Rajagopal P and Najmal Abdul Jabbar topped the school securing A+ Grade in all 10 subjects.

Gulf Model School, Dubai

All the students who appeared in the exam have passed. Shaima Sheni Urmi and Shabnam Mohd Eliyas were the top scorers in the school.

New Indian Model School, Sharjah

A total of 52 students appeared this year. The school achieved 100 per cent results. Mohammed Abdul Sami, Neethu Babu, Priya Kuriakose, Sangeetha and Sruthy Karthik secured A+ in all ten subjects.

New Indian Model School, Al Ain

About 20 students appeared for the exam and the school secured 100 per cent results. Athira Manikantan, Jessy Mol Joy and Sania Elza Mathews turned out to be the toppers from the girls’ Section by scoring nine A+ grades and one A grade each.

Indian School, Fujairah

About 45 students appeared for the exam and all have passed. Aby T. Joseph, Mufeed Abdulla, Vishnu Ramesh and Shyma Seeni topped with A+ in all ten papers

preeti@khaleejtimes.com