CBSE results 2021: Indian students in UAE post high scores in Class 12 despite pandemic

Dubai: Dubai: Indian students under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum in the UAE received their Class 12 results today. The school-leaving exams were first delayed and then eventually cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the first time in CBSE’s history that all Class 12 board exams were cancelled.

Instead of the board exams, students were awarded marks based on a weighted average of their school-level exam results in Class 10, 11 and 12.

Overall results

Many UAE-based students received near-perfect scores of close to 100 per cent, while several schools boasted a 100 per cent pass rate. In total, in India and in other countries, almost 1.3 million students cleared Class 12 this year — with 70,004 of them (one in 20 students) scoring above 95 per cent. The pass percentage for boys was 99.13, which was slightly lower than that for girls, at 99.67 per cent.

The results are available on the CBSE website (cbseresults.nic.in), on digilocker.gov.in and the DigiLocker app. Science, Commerce and Arts/Humanities are the three main streams for Class 12.

Thanking the teachers

In the UAE, students spoke of the challenges of studying during the pandemic and attributed their success, in large part, to the teachers who went the extra mile to support them.

Shalon Shaji, a student of GEMS Our Own English High School, Dubai, scored 99.4 per cent in Science — the highest in her school and one of the highest in the UAE. Shalon said: “Having graduated after 14 years [from the same school], I am filled with immense gratitude to my teachers, friends and all the staff that shaped me into the person I am today. Personally speaking, online classes [because of the pandemic] helped me to be more productive each day, since I got more time to focus on my studies.”

At GEMS Our Own Indian School, Dubai, Naveen Nair was the topper with 99.2 per cent: He said: “If I could point to any one aspect that was simply irreplaceable in my journey [through school life], then it would be the teachers who taught me. Furthermore, they often went above and beyond the norms to meet all our needs, especially this year in the midst of the pandemic.”

Pupils at Delhi Private School, Dubai, also showed strong performances, with Nandana Sankar, the school topper in Humanities (98.6 per cent), saying: “My teachers, family and friends have been my biggest support system throughout this entire journey. Despite being in the middle of a pandemic and classes being held online, my teachers guided me towards success and my parents encouraged me right from the start.”

Unprecedented year

School principals said all stakeholders in education had pulled together to ensure students learned and graduated despite the challenges of the pandemic. Pramod Mahajan, principal, Sharjah Indian School, where all the appearing 492 students have passed Class 12, said: “It is the efforts of the teachers in academic adoption, subject enrichment and remedial programmes, despite the hurdles of the pandemic, that helped the students perform to their best.”

‘Fair results’

Mohammad Kottakkulam, principal, Gulf Indian High School Dubai, said the school-based tabulation used to arrive at CBSE results this year was “prolonged but strict; carefully designed and strictly monitored by CBSE to ward off any possibility of [inflating] the results”. The process incorporated “proportionate performance” of the students in Class 10, 11 and 12, scaled against the best of the past three years’ overall results of the school, he added.

“After grooming the children through the pandemic, which the world has never witnessed before, it was very challenging for the schools, teachers, students and parents to reach this point of success. I personally feel that had there been a chance for the students to write the board exams physically, the results of our schools in this part of the world would definitely have been far brighter this year due to the excellent support the students received in the last one-and-a-half year of the pandemic,” Kottakkulam said.

Gulf Indian High School Dubai had a 100 per cent pass rate success, with 32 out of 33 Science students and 30 out of 42 Commerce students scoring 75 per cent and above.

Fatima Martin, principal, GEMS New Millennium School — Al Khail, said the batch of 2021 “worked their way upwards relentlessly during the most challenging year in history”. She added: “The results are a testament to our students’ perseverance, our teachers’ foresight to ensure no student was left behind despite the remote/blended learning challenges, our parents’ cooperation and our regulatory authorities’ efficiency, CBSE and KHDA [Knowledge and Human Development Authority], who ensured that the overarching education system supported students’ learning as a priority.”