New Delhi, May 1 -- The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) on Thursday declared Class 10 and Class 12 board examination results for 2026 that showed a marginal improvement in overall pass percentages from last year. A total of 99.18% students cleared Class 10 (ICSE) and 99.13% cleared Class 12 (ISC) this year, up from 99.09% and 99.02%, respectively, in 2025. This year, 2,58,721 students from 2,957 schools appeared for the ICSE (Class 10) examination, compared to 2,52,557 students from 2,803 schools in 2025. And 1,03,316 students from 1,553 schools appeared for the ISC (Class 12) examinations, up from 99,551 students from 1,460 schools last year. CISCE does not release toppers list or merit ranking for ICSE and ISC exams. It last announced the toppers list in 2023 and discontinued the practice from 2024 onwards to reduce unwanted stress and competition among students. "Ensuring the availability of qualified teachers and maintaining quality education remain key challenges, particularly in rural areas, which is reflected in the relatively lower number of schools and students at the Class 12 level compared to Class 10. However, the data indicates steady improvement with each passing year," said Dr Joseph Emmanuel, Chief Executive and Secretary of CISCE, during a press conference announcing the results. Girls continued to outperform boys in both Class 10 and Class 12, with the gap largely unchanged from last year. In Class 10, the pass percentage for girls rose slightly to 99.46% (from 99.37% in 2025), while boys recorded 98.93% (98.84% in 2025). Similarly, in Class 12, girls achieved a pass percentage of 99.48% (99.45% last year), compared to 98.81% for boys (98.64% in 2025). In Class 10, the West region topped with 99.85% passing rate, followed by South (99.81%) and North (98.86%) and East region (98.84%). In Class 12, the Southern region has the best passing percentage of 99.87% followed by West (99.55%), North (99.05%) and East (98.93%). In the Delhi-NCR region, 6,386 out of 6,400 students cleared the ICSE (Class 10) examination, recording a pass percentage of 99.78%. For ISC (Class 12), 3,535 of the 3,547 students who appeared passed the examination, translating to a 99.66% success rate. In the Class 10 examination, 1,313 candidates with learning difficulties (including dyslexia) appeared, of whom 132 secured marks above 90%. Additionally, 54 visually challenged candidates appeared, with 17 achieving scores above 90%. In the Class 12 examination, 305 candidates with learning difficulties appeared, of whom 36 secured above 90%. Among 22 visually challenged candidates, 9 achieved scores above 90%....