by Saima Bhat
SRINAGAR: When going gets tough, tougher get going. That is exactly what the results of the tenth standard suggest.
The year 2018 is about to end as the bloodiest year in a decade. The last 12 months witnessed the highest number of killings with the highest number of encounters happening in the three districts of south Kashmir: Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam. Kashmir witnessed the highest number of strikes but this region witnessed more hartals and huge disturbances.
But the students have defied all odds and have topped the list amongst other districts of Kashmir division in the recently declared class 10th results. Pulwama has the highest percentage and Shopian plays the second fiddle.
The annual result of class 10th was declared on Saturday evening.
In the district wise ranking across Kashmir districts, Pulwama tops the chart with 84.50 percent students passing the exams. In the neighbouring Shopian, the pass percentage is 83 percent.
It is 81.90 percent in Srinagar, Kashmir’s capital city and home to all the “best” schools in Kashmir. With 80.50 percent it is Kulgam at No 4 position. It is 78 percent in Islamabad, 74.84 percent in Baramulla, 73.16 percent in Ganderbal, 72.79 percent in Budgam, 62.92 percent in Kupwara and 62.26 percent in Bandipora.
Surprisingly the pass percentage of students in private sector schools was also recorded as highest for the district Pulwama with 90.29 percent, followed by Kupwara with 87.95 percent, 87.10 percent in Islamabad, 87.01 percent in Shopian
Besides, the students of government schools in Pulwama district have highest pass percentage of 76.94 percent, followed by Kulgam with 74.96 percent pass percentage, Shopian 74.67 percent, Islamabad with 67.93 percent, Srinagar with 65.52 percent, Baramulla with 64.27 percent, Budgam with 63.38 percent, Ganderbal with 62.62 percent, Bandipora with 58.14 percent and least in Kupwara with 54.01 percent.
The Board of School Education (BOSE) officials say they have declared the results in record time and this year the results have shown significant improvement from last year. The overall pass percentage has increased from 62.94 percent to 75.44 percent this year. But the public relations officer told Kashmir Life they have abandoned the system of declaring top positions since they introduced the grading system.
A total of 55472 had appeared in the examination out of which 41846 students have passed the examination. Unlike past results, boys have shown an overall better performance than girls. The pass percentage of boys is 76.41 percent, which is marginally more than the pass percentage of girls, which is 74.40 percent.
It is worth to mention that the major gainers have been the Government schools with an improvement from 46.70 percent last whereas this year it is 63.71 percent.
But the happy news comes with its own flip side. Among the successful candidates are a few who are already in their graves.
Among the students who have passed the exams includes the name of Nauman Ashraf, the 14 years old boy, who was killed during an encounter in Shopian. He was a resident of Bolos Kulgam and was injured near the encounter site and later died at a hospital.
KL Image by Shah Hilal
Reportedly Misbah Zaffar, daughter of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Zaffar Hussain who is from Liver Pahalgam has got 491 marks.
But the Pulwama-Shopian region topping the chart has surprised people because the region was the main focus of insurgency and counter-insurgency.
The year followed a drill. As soon as the encounters would start, the district administration would shut the Internet in the concerned districts for ‘security reasons’ without notifying for how many days the internet will be shut. Soon, the educational institutions will be locked.
In Pulwama district alone around 20 encounters took place during this year and Internet remained suspended for at least 95 days. In neighbouring Shopian, around 12 encounters took place and then Internet remained suspended for 80 days. But defying all these problems, the students have performed well in the exams.
This year, in 412 militancy-related incidents, at least 91 soldiers and the cops, 256 militants and around157 civilians were killed as on date.
(This copy has been slightly edited for some factual error.)
