Patna, March 29 The Bihar School Examination Board announced the results of its Class 10 board examination on Sunday, and nearly 82 per cent of the students have passed the exam.
Pushpanjali Kumari of the Jamui district and Sabreen Praveen of the Vaishali district topped the exams with 98.4 per cent marks, Bihar Education Minister Sunil Kumar said.
According to a statement issued by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), Nahid Sultana of the Begusarai district secured second position with 489 marks, while Anupa Kumari of Buxar and Om Kumar of Begusarai jointly stood third with 488 marks.
Announcing the results, Kumar said that Bihar is the only state this time to announce the results of Class 10 and 12 exams in March itself.
The evaluation process for Class 10 exams was completed within a record time of 12 days through the use of technology, he said.
Speaking to reporters, Kumar said, "Of the total 15,10,928 students, including 7,84,871 girls and 7,26,057 boys, who appeared for the exams, 12,35,743 (81.79) per cent have passed.
Of the students who passed the exams, 6,01,390 were boys and 6,34,353 were girls.
BSEB Chairman Anand Kishor informed reporters that 4,43,723 students secured first division, 4,75,511 secured second division, and 3,03,103 secured third division.
Thirteen candidates featured in the top five, and 139 in the top 10, he added.
Kishor announced that the Bihar government has doubled the prize money for toppers this year.
"First rankers will receive a prize of Rs 2 lakh each, second rankers Rs 1.5 lakh, and third rankers Rs 1 lakh. Those who rank between fourth and tenth will receive Rs 20,000 each," he said.
All top 10 students will also receive a laptop, a citation, and a medal, BSEB added.
The Bihar education minister emphasised that the timely announcement of results allows students to secure admissions in good institutions for further studies.
"For those who did not perform well or failed, applications for scrutiny and compartmental exams will be open from April 1 to April 7," Kumar added.
The BSEB chairman said that compartmental exams will be held soon so that results can be released in May, ensuring that students do not lose an academic year.