The three northern districts of Tamil Nadu, Vellore, Ranipet and Tiruvannamalai, recorded the lowest pass percentages in the Class X State board examinations with only 82.07%, 85.48% and 86.10% respectively. These districts were ranked in the 38th, 37th and 36th positions in the districts performance list.
Officials of the School Education Department said that a total of 82,484 students from these districts, including 43,805 girls, appeared for the examinations. Among these districts, Tiruvannamalai has the highest number of student participation at 31,341, followed by Vellore with 18,670, Tirupattur with 17,221 and Ranipet with 15,174.
“Vellore and Ranipet have slightly increased their total pass percentages in 2024 compared to the previous year despite these districts still remaining at the bottom of the rank table,” said an official from the education Department. Vellore and Ranipet districts have increased their total pass percentages from 79.87% in 2023 to 82.07% in 2024 and 83.54% in 2023 to 85.48% in 2024 respectively. Despite its increase in the total pass percentages, these two districts secured only a low rank in the district performance list.
Among these districts, Tiruvannamalai has highest drop in its total pass percentage from 93.07% in 2023 to 86.10% in 2024, followed by Tirupattur from 93.24% in 2023 to 88.20% in 2024.
Education officials said that school dropouts, especially among girls in tribal and remote areas, remain a major roadblock in increasing the pass percentages of these districts. Parents in these villages, who are mostly agricultural labourers, often migrate to big cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Salem and Coimbatore for at least four to five months during the lean farming season. Along with the parents, children, especially girls, also migrate right in between the academic year. They later return to their native villages and resume schooling.
This has been found as a major reason for their poor performance in Board examinations. Continuous efforts have been taken in order to encourage parents to let the children pursue education without any such long breaks, education officials said.
