Our Bureau
TURA/SHILLONG, May 8: The pass percentage graph for the 5 districts of Garo Hills has shown an upward trend with both the Science and Commerce streams crossing the 70% threshold in the Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) results declared on Wednesday.
A total of 968 students from Garo Hills took their higher secondary exams in Science this year with 732 of them passing for an impressive 75.61% overall. In the Commerce section, 385 students appeared with 285 passing out with flying colours (71.42%).
The high pass percentage across all 5 districts augurs well for higher education in the region and with more educational infrastructure for higher studies in the offing, a positive change is what is now being hoped with more students, in both the HS and Secondary level passing to ensure a rise in the abysmal levels that has become a familiar trend.
What has been most impressive this year has been the performance of the district of South West Garo Hills, which saw all 31 students that appeared for Science stream coming through with flying colours. The district also saw 9 out 15 students pass in the Commerce stream.
The biggest district, West Garo Hills saw 642 students appear in Science with 485 going through for an impressive 75.54% while in Commerce 169 out of 247 passed (68.42). For the district of East Garo Hills, 149 students appeared in Science with 102 passing (68.45) with 62 out of 78 doing the same in Commerce (79.48).
In North Garo Hills, 45 students appeared for their Commerce board exams with 35 passing (77.78) and 60 out of 72 in Science got through for an impressive 83.3%.
South Garo Hills saw 74 candidates appear in Science with 54 of them going through (72.9). The district had no students take the Commerce examination.
Lone topper in Commerce from the region
Moreover, Garo Hills had something to cheer for after the declaration of HSSLC results, with a lone candidate from the region securing a spot in the merit list of Commerce stream.
While no candidate from the region figured in the merit list in the Science stream, it was Aditya Prasad from Don Bosco College (Higher Secondary Section) who secured the 3rd position in the list of toppers, along with two others from Shillong. Aditya secured the spot with a total of 458 marks.
Son of a prominent businessman of the town, Mahavir Prasad and homemaker Rekha Devi, Aditya is the second among two other siblings- an elder sister and a younger brother.
Speaking about his success soon after the results were declared, Aditya said that the main motivation for his achievement was his own teacher from Don Bosco College, Anil Kumar Gupta. However, he says that he also draws an equal amount of inspiration from his tuition teachers — Ranjit Mallick, a teacher at the Tura Town Higher Secondary School, and Sanchita Bhowmik, who taught him Accountancy.
Aditya, who has a special passion for cricket and badminton, says that he studied for two hours daily. When asked about the biggest challenges he faced during his preparations for the examinations, Aditya said that it was in maintaining consistency with his daily study routine.
“I had to try hard to maintain consistency in my preparations. I mean, studying for two hours daily and trying to maintain that consistency was the biggest challenge that I faced. On some days, I felt like going out and playing with my friends. But I had to suppress all my distractions and concentrate on my studies,” he said.
When asked on his plans for the future ahead, Aditya says that he has decided to continue his Bachelor’s degree in Commerce along with a course on Computer Application.
On what advice he has for his fellow students, Aditya says that his motto is never to compete with his peers but to compare the results from the past and the present and continue to work for improvement.
Congratulations: FKJGP
Meanwhile, the Education Cell of the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) has congratulated the students of the Hynniewtrep community who have excelled in this year’s HSSLC (Science and Commerce) examinations conducted by MBoSE.
In a statement, FKJGP education secretary, Pynshai Kharbani, said, “We would like to give our best wishes for their higher studies.”
The FKJGP’s education cell has also conveyed its best wishes to the students who are awaiting their SSLC and HSSLC (Arts) results.