Kolkata, May 14 -- Results announced by the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) on Thursday showed a sharp rise in the proportion of students securing higher grades compared with the last Higher Secondary examination held under the annual system in 2025, even as the share of top scorers dipped marginally in the first full examination under the semester system.
Out of 6,26,258 candidates who appeared, 5,71,355 passed (91.23%). Girls recorded a pass percentage of 92.47%, compared with 89.71% among boys. One transgender candidate also passed. Among the successful candidates, 3,26,789 students (57.20%) secured marks above 60%, compared with 45.38% in 2025 - an increase of nearly 12 percentage points. The proportion of candidates scoring above 70% also rose sharply, while the share securing 80-89 remained largely unchanged. A total of 1,74,534 students (30.55%) crossed the 70% mark against 25.66% last year, while 51,843 students (9.07%) secured A+ grades compared with 10.25% in 2025.
The number of candidates in the highest bracket, however, declined marginally. This year, 6,434 students (1.13%) secured A++ grades by scoring between 90 and 100, compared with around 1.7% candidates who had scored 90% and above in 2025. Commenting on the relatively lower proportion of top scorers, WBCHSE president Partha Karmakar said the council would conduct a detailed analysis of the first HS examination under the semester system.
"The council will analyse where students performed well, where they did not, and what changes may be required going forward," Karmakar said.
Girls continued to outperform boys, with a pass percentage of 92.47% against 89.71% among boys. Girls also maintained an edge in higher-grade categories, with 29,812 securing A+ grades against 22,031 boys. Similarly, 66,885 girls scored between 70 and 79 compared with 49,372 boys.
Among the three streams, Science recorded the highest pass percentage (99.19%), followed by Commerce (93.67%) and Arts (89.19%).
Science students dominated the top score brackets as well. Of the 6,434 A++ scorers, 3,678 (57.16%) were from the Science stream, while Arts accounted for 2,163 (33.62%) and Commerce 593 (9.22%).
Science students also accounted for 57 of the 64 rank holders in the top 10 positions. Arts had five rank holders and Commerce two. Arts, however, remained the largest contributor in absolute numbers because of its significantly higher enrolment. Of the 3,26,789 candidates securing more than 60%, Arts accounted for 1,91,030 students (58.46%), followed by Science with 32.90% and Commerce with 8.64%.
District-wise, North 24 Parganas recorded the highest number of candidates securing more than 60%, with 34,186 students, followed by East Midnapore (27,710) and South 24 Parganas (27,434).
Hooghly led the A++ category with 873 candidates scoring above 90%, followed by Kolkata (544) and North 24 Parganas. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari will felicitate the toppers of class X and class XII examinations at a programme to be held at Nabanna Sabhagar on May 18, Monday. The toppers from Bengal Board and Council, as well as CBSE, ICSE and ISC, will be felicitated at the programme.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.