ahmedabad on saturday a record low of 5498 students passed the hsc general stream exams held by gujarat secondary and higher secondary education board this is the lowest pass percentage since 1991 sources say the result was a dismal 37 and it took the unprecedented decision of allowing up to 18 grace marks to bring the result close to 55 substantially down from 633 last year incidentally last years results were low compared to previous years a senior board official said if not for the high grace marks a lakhodd more students would have failed the exam board rules allow only five grace marks special sanction was sought from the education department to give up to 18 marks if not for this nearly one lakh students would have failed creating a survival issue for 700odd colleges the official said board officials may now seek approval for giving up to 20 grace marks for the soontobeannounced ssc results sources said cctv and tablet surveillance in exam centres and strict screening may have led to a poor pass percentage in ssc as well gshseb chairman a j shah could not be contacted for comment education minister bhupendrasinh chudasama said low result can be mainly attributed to strict electronic surveillance that curbed copying