Saran Tenzin Tamang of Yangchenphug higher secondary school, Nishtha Sinha of Lungtenzampa MSS in Thimphu and Govinda Adhikari of Thinleygang MSS in Punakha came third with 90 percent.

With the cut off point fixed at 62 percent (a total mark of 310 with English plus best four subjects), only 3,695 students will be make it to class XI in government schools from the 8,898 students in 71 schools that sat for the board examination.

The cut-off point this year has decreased by 0.2 percent from the previous years.

Karma Tenzin of Gomtu MSS, Samtse was having lunch in his home yesterday when the school vice principal came to his house to share the news of him topping the class X examination. “I left for school immediately with my vice principal to confirm,” said the 17-year old student from Yurung, Pemagatsel. “I’m very, very happy with the results.” Science and Maths being his favourite subjects, Karma Tenzin wants to pursue Science stream in class XI. “I’d hoped for about 93 percent but 91 percent is also good,” said the Samtse school topper, who describes himself as a hardworking person. Karma said that his teachers have supported him throughout. “I’ve studied really hard for the exams as well. Getting up at 4.30 am in the morning to study wasn’t easy,” he said. “I’m excited because I’ve done my parents and my teachers proud.”

With 8,671 students passing the examination, education officials said the overall pass percentage had improved to 97.45 percent performance in Science, especially in Physics and Chemistry, was the worst. About 287 students failed in Science. The mean-mark, which serves as a quality indicator for education sector, for Science was about 49 percent, which means below average performance, according to officials of the Bhutan board of education (BBE). The lowest mean mark was recorded for Chemistry with 46.7 percent.

Although 99.94 percent of the students passed the English examination, the performance was only average with a mean mark of 51.46 percent. Most students just managed to get the pass mark in English, BBE officials said.

“There are various factors, such as the new curriculum and the preparedness of both teachers and students, which could have affected the performance,” said BBE secretary Dr Phub Rinchen. He added that students were assessed on two skills, reading and writing and not on the other skills such as listening and speaking. “Some students might be good in the other skills,” he said.

A total of 4,378 girls and 4,520 boys sat for the examination.

Dzongkha language institute’s first batch of 30 students also sat for the class X language and culture studies certificate examination. Of the total, 29 students passed.

The clerical recheck will be entertained from February 16. Each candidate can recheck the marks in a maximum of two subjects, by paying a fee of Nu 300 for each paper.

Candidates, who qualify after a recheck, will be considered for admission to class XI by the department of school education, said officials.