Only One high school was record 100% results in the SSC exams at Tribal Area

The SSC pass percentage across the 68 tribal welfare educational institutions including 39 Ashram high schools in the district has declined to 66.63% this year from last year's 81.21%, with as many as 695 students failing in mathematics alone.

A staggering number of 805 students of the tribal welfare Ashram schools and hostels failed in the SSC public exams this year. While 695 students failed in maths, 58 failed in science and 52 in English, sources said.In all, as many as 1,948 students who appeared for the public exams from the 68 tribal welfare schools and hostels passed. The results of the SSC exam were declared last month.The only solace was that around 220 students had scored more than 9 GPA (grade point average) and six among them got 9.8 GPA, sources in the Bhadrachalam-based Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) said.

These students will be presented with a cash incentive of ?50,000 each at a programme to be held in Hyderabad shortly.The sharp fall in pass percentage this year has once again brought to spotlight glaring deficiencies such as lack of individual focus on students to develop subject-specific competencies, inadequate teaching staff and poor monitoring of residential educational institutions in the Agency mandals.In the past few years, there has been slight improvement in the SSC pass percentage due to implementation of a slew of programmes aimed at enhancing the subject-specific competencies of tribal students in Bhadrachalam Agency.

As many as five Ashram high schools recorded 100% results in the SSC exams last year.This year, only the school at Cheepurugudem in Dammapeta mandal was able to achieve this feat.The students who failed the exams are now toiling hard to clear the subjects in the ensuing SSC advanced supplementary exams to be held from June 6.

When contacted, Deputy Director (Tribal Welfare) Ram Murthy told The Hindu the services of senior mathematics teachers were roped in to prepare the 695 students who had failed in the subject.The students who had failed are undergoing coaching at four centres in Bhadrachalam, Palvancha, Yellandu and Uppusaka, he said, adding that efforts would be made to streamline functioning of the Ashram schools and hostels to improve pass percentage in the next academic year.