kolkata as many as 866 examinees passed the madhyamik examination this year in results declared on friday but the true meaning of this achievement while only a shade higher than the 863 of 2020 can only be understood in perspective what the cold numbers do not indicate is that the slight decimalpoint rise in this years results came despite two years of covid disruptions the prepandemic world of 2020 when that years madhyamik was held was vastly differentalso according to the west bengal board of secondary education a recordshattering 114 students are occupying this years top10 spots the results bear testimony to the grit and determination of examinees despite physical classes having been held for fewer than 50 days a sharp fall from the usual 200city comes 5th in pass percentage honour rollthis years madhyamik held after two years of covid disruptions had two students sharing the top spot with a score of 693 arnab gharai of ramharipur ramakrishna mission high school in bankura and rounak mondal of cms school burdwan an equal number kaushiki sarkar of adarshabani academy high school in maldas gazole and rounak mondal of ghatal vidyasagar high school in west midnapore secured the second spot with 692 four students were declared joint thirdthe improvement in the topnotch performances can be gauged by a comparison with previous years this year has 114 students in the top10 while it was only 51 in 2019 and 84 in 2020to compensate for this years learning loss the west bengal board of secondary education had reduced the syllabus by 30 even then a significant number of teachers and students had feared that the syllabus load would be too much in proportion to the number of classdays there were many who had apprehended high dropout rates and students from remote areas suffering because of the digital divide but fridays results happily belie those fearseast midnapore is once again the leading district in terms of pass percentage followed by kalimpong and west midnapore kolkata stands fifth on the success board students from the districts have grabbed all but one spot in the top 10 also there were 182802 aa grades over 90 score in a subject this year up from 178791 in 2020there are however some areas of concern city school principals said the high pass percentage could be explained by the average performance of a large number of students yet some city schools that have always had only first divisions in its ranks are in shock with some students getting second division this year there are 39 government schools in the state where 32 students have failed which is unusual in madhyamik said saugata basu general secretary west bengal government school teaches association this is a reflection of challenges that students have faced during the pandemic