2009 Class XII examinations 29 January, 2010 - Science students have taken the top three positions of the 2009 class XII Bhutan Higher Secondary Education Certificate (BHSEC) examinations, the results of which will be formally out on the education and druknet website this afternoon.

A total of 6,540 students appeared for the examination of which, only about 22.7 percent or 1,491 students will make it to the 11 colleges under the Royal University of Bhutan (see box for details).

Sherubtse College will take in 376 students while Gaedug College of business studies has 200 seats this year. The College of Science and Technology will take in 152 Science students for various engineering courses.

There are also 163 professional and technical scholarship slots available outside Bhutan.

The overall pass percentage was 87.35 percent, a 0.82 percent increase over the previous year. A total of 5,930 students passed the examination.

The pass percentage, however, does not indicate the quality or the performance of the students, according to the secretary of Bhutan Board of Examination (BBE), Dr Phub Rinchen. He said that the subject-wise mean marks for English, History, Commerce, Business Maths and Economics in the class 12 examination were less than 50 percent, which means below average performance.

“The performance of students could be analysed with the subject-wise mean marks which also serves as a quality indicator for the education sector,” he said, adding that this year’s mean marks show that despite a high pass percentage, some students just managed to get the pass mark of 40.

“The mean marks for English is just 45.93 percent although almost 94 percent students passed the English examination. “It’s disturbing,” said Dr Phub Rinchen. “There would be various factors that affected the students’ performance.”

Students’ performance in economics was the worst, according to BBE officials. Only 64.7 percent students passed the examination and the mean marks was 27.70 percent, way below average. “Worst performance in economics happens every year. Students probably don’t take the subject seriously as it is an elective,” said the secretary. But students did well in geography and chemistry.

Dream doctor Study medicine, come back to Bhutan and strive to become one of the best doctors in the country. That is what Yeshey Samdrup, the class XII topper, is clear about doing. The soft-spoken 18-year old, with a shy smile said he expected to score more than 85 percent. “But topping the examination is way beyond my expectations,” he said. “My dream to become a doctor always motivated me.” A student of Motithang higher secondary school in Thimphu, Yeshey describes himself as a hardworking student. “The late night studying has definitely paid off and I feel ecstatic,” he said. Having scored 86 percent in the class X examination, Yeshey Samdrup has been a class topper since primary school. “My target has always been to simply do better than I have done before, to study and understand rather than memorize everything and to stay focused,” he said. “This is the turning point of my life.”

BBE officials said that a streamwise analysis would soon be done to study the performance of students in the three streams of Science, Arts and Commerce.

The Commerce stream had 2,912 students, the highest, who appeared for the examination. A student of Gelephu higher secondary school, Kelzang Wangmo, topped commerce scoring 86 percent.

There were 2,039 Science students and 1,579 in the Arts stream. A student of Nangkhor higher secondary school in Pemagatsel, Langa Tenzin, stood first in the Arts stream category scoring 84 percent.

Students from 26 government schools including seven private schools appeared the examinations.

The clerical recheck will be entertained from February 1 to 26. Each candidate can recheck marks in a maximum of two subjects by paying a fee of Nu 300 for each paper.