The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared both Class 10 and 12 board exam results on Tuesday. The Pune region of CBSE, which covers Maharashtra, recorded a pass percentage of 96.54 per cent for Class 10 and and 90.93 per cent for Class 12.
The Pune region primarily covers Maharashtra, Goa, Daman & Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli. The pass percentages are marginally higher than last year, where Pune region recorded 96.46 per cent for Class 10 and 89.78 per cent for Class 12. This was the second year of board exams for students without any friendly measures which were introduced during pandemic.
The Class 10 CBSE examination was held between February 15 and March 18. In Maharashtra, 1,17,531 students had registered for this exam, out whom 1,17,237 appeared and 1,13,257 passed, taking Maharashtra’s pass percentage to 96.61 per cent.
Out of the 34,874 students who registered for the Class 12 CBSE exam, 34,703 students appeared for the exam that was held from February 15 to April 4 while 31,468 students passed the exam, taking the state’s pass percentage to 90.68 percent.
Commenting on the overall performance of the students in the CBSE board exams, Kalpana Dwivedi, principal of Balbharati School, acknowledged that while the results have been generally positive, increased difficulty in certain Class 12 science subjects has impacted top scorers.
“Subjects such as physics and mathematics posed a greater challenge this year, as reported by many students. The question papers were tougher and heavily focused on application-based learning,” she explained.
“As a result, even high-performing students scored slightly lower. For instance, I was expecting our school topper to score around 99 percent, but the highest this year is approximately 96 per cent. Still, students have performed commendably despite the tough papers as the overall school result is 100 percent,” said Dwivedi who also noted that the Class 10 result is largely consistent with previous years.
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Ritu Dubey, principal of Rajhans Vidyalaya, also observed that students found certain papers particularly challenging this year. “Subjects such as physics and mathematics included a greater number of questions requiring higher-order thinking skills, and the overall difficulty level was certainly higher in some areas,” she said.
“Despite these challenges, students have performed better than last year, which is encouraging. A noteworthy trend is the large number of students scoring 80 per cent and above, even with the tougher papers. Very few students have scored below 70 per cent, which reflects better preparedness of students,” said Dubey.
The high scorers
Nysa D’Cunha
Triumphing over a major health setback, Nysa D’Cunha, a Class 12 commerce student from R N Poddar School, secured 99 per cent in the board exams. Diagnosed with migraine at the age of five, she faced severe headaches, blackouts, and BP fluctuations in the months leading up to her boards.
“I was hospitalised a week before my first exam and discharged just a day before Business Studies,” she said. Nysa noted that it was with the support of her school and centre staff—who allowed regular medicines, food, and ORS—she made it through the exams. Nysa credits her success to consistency, note-making, and solving CBSE past papers and now aims to pursue BA in Economics.
Aishwarya Sinha
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Aishwarya Sinha, a student of Delhi Public School (DPS), secured 98.6 per cent in humanities in the Class 12 board exams. “I have been working towards this dream for so many years,” she said. Aishwarya credits her success to the unwavering support of her teachers, parents, and brother, calling them her biggest pillars of strength. With a passion for the past, she now plans to pursue history.
Shreshth Agarwal
An IIT aspirant, Shreshth Agarwal, another Class 12 student of DPS, secured 98.8 percent in science. “I consistently revised topics taught in class and solved multiple questions to build clarity. Regular practice was key,” said Shreshth who maintained a disciplined study routine, dedicating four to five hours daily. His methodical approach helped him balance both board and competitive exam preparation. Shreshth is now gearing up for the JEE Advanced and aims to pursue a career in computer science.
Saurish Bihani
Describing his board exam year journey as a steady climb marked by curiosity and consistency, Saurish Bihani, a Class 10 student of R N Podar school, secured 99.6 per cent. “I treated this exam as a milestone to track my progress—I studied every day, took it one step at a time, and always tried to be my best,” he said. Besides crediting his success to the support from his family and school, he also patted himself for limiting screen time. With plans to pursue engineering, Saurish will now take admission to science stream.
Anurag Jenna
Anurag Jenna, a Class 10 student of New Horizon Public School, secured 99.4 per cent. “I was regular with my studies and gave a lot of mock tests, which helped me identify areas where I needed to improve. My goal was always to convert good marks into full marks,” he said. Anurag has opted for science and aims to clear JEE, with long-term plans of pursuing an MBA from an IIM.