SSC board fails school topper, turns out she scored 94 per cent

On result day, the state board took 16-year-old Bhagayshree Bagwe for a bit of a ride. Like lakhs of other SSC students, Bhagayshree had been waiting anxiously for the results. On Tuesday, when they were declared, the board website said that the class topper had failed.

Now that they have their SSC scores, students have begun pegging away at junior college applications through the centralised admission procedure (CAP). Pic/Nimesh Dave

Bhagayshree, her family and her school, which usually scores a cent percent passing result, were not so much traumatised as incredulous. A consistent high performer fails her first board exam and does not even have an inkling that she would fare so abysmally does seem far-out.

Anuradha Kamath, (inset) principal of Thakur Vidya Mandir High School and Junior College in Kandivli (E)

Also read: SSC Board reserves results, leaves thousands in the lurch

"My first reaction was that it had to be a mistake because there is no way that she could fail in her exams. We were sure there was some error, so we immediately contacted the school," said Ramchandra Bagwe, Bhagayshree's father.

At Thakur Vidya Mandir High School and Junior College in Kandivli (E), the authorities were equally surprised to find that their bright spark could have done so poorly.

"We have always got cent percent results, but this time the pass percentage was shown as 99.6%. So we inferred that one student had failed. When we checked individual marks of the students, we were shocked to find out that it was Bhagayshree, a bright student," said school principal Anuradha Kamath. She added that the school tried calling up the Vashi board office, but couldn't get through to the authorities. They finally sent an official to the board office in the evening.

Also read: State board chief does not notice any delay in SSC results

Goof-up
At 8 pm, the school official was informed at the board office that the girl hadn't really failed: she had, in fact, scored 94%. "We got a call from the board office, confirming that she scored 94% in her SSC exams, but her result had been withheld because of an error in marking her graded subjects," said Kamath.

Also read: Appearing for SSC exams from ambulance, Mumbai boy scores 79.2%

The school was then orally dictated Bhagayshree's scores. The website, though, hasn't caught up with the human error, and still shows the status of her result as "reserved". When mid-day contacted the Mumbai divisional board chairman, he said the problem was that Bhagayshree's graded subjects had somehow been left out of the equation.

"Since the grades were not included, the website showed that she had failed. The school says they sent the grades of all students together, so maybe there was an error at the time of feeding the information. We will inquire into the matter," said Laxmikant Pande, chairman, Mumbai divisional board.

Still unsure
"My daughter was depressed, as all her friends were posting their scores on Facebook, while she was being told that she had failed. She missed enjoying the success of her first board exam because of this error," said her father.

Also read: State records highest-ever SSC results

In any case, the impact of failure, even a false, momentary one can be unnerving. Once she was informed about her real score, Bhagayshree was still not sure whether to believe it. "She thinks some of her marks are not correct. While the board says she has scored 95 in Sanskrit, she was sure she would score 99. We will have to wait till the board gives a confirmed status of her result," he said.

At present, Bhagayshree is attending classes to crack the IIT-JEE exams after her Std XII. "She wants to get into the IIT and pursue a degree in computer engineering. I hope this incident doesn't affect her concentration, since she is very determined to do well. This minor error has left her shaken," said her father.