Marathi pulls down SSC scores, pass percentage of maths dips

Most Mumbai schools felt that students’ scores in Marathi pulled down their overall performance in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams. There was also a dip in the percentage of students clearing their mathematics paper.

“Science and mathematics are scoring subjects and students seem to have fared well in these. However, all the students who either failed or cleared the pass class have scored really low in Hindi and Marathi. Looks like the assessment was also tough this year,” said Fr Jude Fernandes, principal of ST Mary’s (SSC) High School, Mazgaon.

Overall, students’ performance in all subjects was almost similar to last year, except for English, where the pass percentage increased by almost 2% in the city as compared to last year.

“Our students have done exceptionally well in social sciences as well as in mathematics, which lifted the scores. However, there were many complaints about low Marathi marks as students had expected to score better,” said Farrah Gustaspi, principal of Alexandra Girls’ English Institution, Fort. Two girls at the school topped with 96% in the exam.

The pass percentage of Mumbai candidates in Marathi was 88.89% and Hindi was 90.45%, almost similar to last year.

The percentage of students passing in math, however, dipped from 88.39% in 2017 to 87.87% this year.

At T P Bhatia School in Kandivli, other than English, the languages, as well as mathematics, seemed to have brought down the overall performance of students. “Many students have failed in mathematics, which is worrisome,” said Sangeeta Srivastava, principal of the institute.