Dubai: Taken by surprise, thousands of UAE students received their Grade 12 CBSE results on Monday, declared without a prior confirmed release date.
India’s largest school board, the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), on Monday unexpectedly announced the results on its websites, www.cbse.nic.in and cbseresults.nic.in.
The links experienced “technical issues” for some hours after going live. Complete results were also sent to all schools, some of whom in the UAE shared their performance with Gulf News. Results this year were also pushed through DigiLocker, a government of India online service that provides citizens access to “authentic digital documents… legally at par with originals”.
The CBSE said the Digilocker account credentials have already been sent to students via SMS on their mobile number registered with CBSE.
Overall picture
Overall, 88.78 per cent of the 1,192,961 test takers passed the milestone school-leaving board exams this year, which saw delays and the eventual cancellation of some papers due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Once again, girls outshone boys, with a pass rate of 92.15 per cent (almost six per cent higher than boys).
In schools outside India, 94.26 per cent of the 16,043 candidates passed (lower by around one per cent compared to last year).
UAE results
Schools in the UAE were busy on Monday afternoon collating their results. CBSE has 78 affiliated schools in the UAE, with over 6,000 students in Grade 12, schools estimate.
Some of the first schools to share their results reported a 100 per cent pass rate, including 40 students who took the exams from Scholars Indian School, Ras Al Khaimah.
The school’s principal, Professor M. Abu Bakr, said in a statement that student Shagun Bernwal topped in the science stream with 95.8 per cent at the school. Meanwhile, Yasmin topped the commerce stream with 83.4 per cent. There were no students who appeared for the arts stream this year from the school.
Indian School Al Ain also reported “good results”, with principal Neelam Upadhyay stating that, in science stream, 40 per cent of the students scored above 80 per cent, while in the commerce stream, 30 per cent scored above 80 per cent.
In the science stream, Hatim Nadeer topped with 93.4 per cent, and in the commerce stream, Joylyn Emma Stephen stood first with 93.2 per cent.
Also, The Model School in Abu Dhabi had presented 25 students, who all passed, stated principal Dr V.V. Abdul Kader. The average marks at the school stood at 80 per cent. Overall, Akhara Pradeep was the school topper with 95.4 per cent, followed by Hiba Shaji with 93 per cent, and Fetha Fathima and Amina Naveed both scoring 90 per cent marks.
How students coped
Kishita Gidwani, the Humanities topper at The Indian High School in Dubai, scored 99.2 per cent.
“I didn’t have a strategy or study plan, I just studied when I could. I stayed up quite a bit at night to study. I would like to say to students, ‘stress a little, but just keep it to a good amount so it moves you to study. Just do your best’.”
For higher education, she is going to study psychology in Canada.
At The Millennium School, Dubai, Pulkit Chopra – a student of determination – was the school topper in his favourite subject, Marketing, scoring 99 per cent. His overall percentage was 89.
Pulkit’s mom, Meeta Chopra, said the school had “taken him in and nurtured him when he got a seat there in KG, in 2007, when no one thought of these considerations”, referring to the then difficulty in getting admission to mainstream schools.
“He is what he is today because of all the care by the school. Pulkit wants to study business and we’re finalising plans after his great results,” she added.
Shagun Bernwal of Scholars Indian School, Ras Al Khaimah, topped in the science stream, securing 95.8 per cent.
“I’ve never been someone who studied a lot continuously. I only study when my mood is to study. I would study for 30 to 40 minutes and then take a light break, maybe watch some TV. My message to students is, ‘just believe in yourself. Study when you feel like it, otherwise there's no point’.”
Shagun wants to study maths back home in India for her higher education.
How school leaders reacted
Michael Guzder, Vice President – Education, GEMS Education, said, “This year has seen teachers and pupils overcome COVID-19 lockdowns, online classes and other barriers to emerge triumphant. This is testament to the dedication and commitment displayed all round – including from parents, whose support has been tremendously encouraging. Congratulations to all our students, parents and teachers on another brilliant year of CBSE results.”
The Indian High Group of Schools announced “unprecedented results”, including 61 per cent of the students according 90 per cent and above. Punit MK Vasu, CEO, The Indian High Group of Schools, said, “It’s a huge victory for all of us. Once again, students of IHS have proved their mettle. We salute their resilience and grit – the times were difficult and unprecedented and the situation tense and changing by the minute but they kept their sights and spirt high.”
Delhi Private School Sharjah announced “a whopping” 55.5 per cent of its students secured above 90 per cent. The school principal and Director, Vandana Marwaha, expressed her “satisfaction with the uptrend shown in the results in comparison to the previous years”.
Rashmi Nandkeolyar, Principal and Director, Delhi Private School Dubai, said, “We are delighted that our students have performed brilliantly, with a class average of 90.7 per cent. The entire class has been awarded a distinction [above75 per cent]. Kudos to students, teachers and parents for working together.”
At JSS Private School Dubai, principal Chitra Sharma said out of the 53 students who appeared, 34 per cent secured above 90 per cent. Grade average for science stream was 85.8 per cent, whereas for commerce Stream it was 82.6 per cent. All students secured first division. “It is very encouraging to students of grade 12 surpass all past examination results with their exemplary performance in this year’s CBSE Board Examination,” she added.
Mohammad Ali Kottakkulam, Principal, Gulf Indian High School Dubai, said the school “has once again proved its merit to be the top-quality education provider in the region by minting 100 per cent success. Out of the 83 candidates who sat for the grade 12 board exams from the school this year, all 83 passed out with flying colours, with 62 Distinctions."
Elsewhere, Aakrati Sathish Shetty, from GEMS Our Own English High School Sharjah- Girls, was the GEMS Education science stream topper with 98.4 per cent.
