Latur tops SSC results with most 100% scorers in the state

Students celebrate in Mumbai. Pic/Ashish Raje

The dominance of the Latur pattern was evident again in this year's SSC results, as it registered the highest number of students in the state scoring 100 per cent marks. This year, the Latur division produced 123 students who scored cent percent marks in the SSC board examination, which is more than half of the total 187 students across the state who achieved a perfect score. This success did not happen suddenly or by chance.

For over two decades, teachers and educational institutes in the Marathwada region have worked hard and evolved a system - popularly called the ‘Latur Pattern' - which has helped hundreds and thousands of students crack competitive exams like NEET and IIT-JEE and get good grades in class X and XII board exams.

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Despite the Latur division securing a seventh position among the nine divisional boards in Maharashtra with respect to overall pass percentage, its overall pass percentage this year is 95.27 per cent. However, known as a "topper factory" in academic circles, the Latur division lived up to its nickname even this year.

Building on the much-talked-about ‘Latur pattern,' schools across the district have managed to secure a strong presence in the elite ‘100 per cent club,' year after year, a phenomenon that has been especially evident in the state board results post-2016 after the state education department introduced bonus marks for art and culture for the Class X exams.

The state board awards extra marks to students for their remarkable achievements in the fields of art and sports in the SSC board exams.
For the past few years, the state board has been declaring results based on the best of five subjects.

This year, a total of 187 students achieved a perfect 100 per cent score. Division-wise, Latur had the highest number with 123 students, followed by Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar with 32, and Pune with 10. Mumbai had eight students, Amravati had seven, while Kolhapur and Konkan each had three. Nagpur had one student, and Nashik had none.

Last year, of the 151 students with 100 percent, 109 were from Latur, while six were from Mumbai. In 2022, 70 students from Latur scored 100 percent among the 122 from across the state. Of these, Pune had five and Mumbai had one student who scored 100 per cent that year. In 2020, of the 242 students who scored a perfect 100 across the nine divisions in the state, 151 were from the Latur division. In 2018, 125 students scored 100 percent marks, of which 68 were from Latur alone.

The Latur pattern of study is a model that gained prominence during the 1980s as an initiative by a group of dedicated academics in the district, who aimed to enhance the quality of education in the region. After the district was established in 1982, schools and colleges began actively training students with parental support to improve learning outcomes.

"It is an old model started by a group of educationists and passed on to the new generation, followed to date. The term ‘Latur pattern,' however, was coined when the then education minister Vilasrao Deshmukh used it while felicitating meritorious students at an event during that time," said a teacher from a Zilla Parishad school in Latur.

An official from the state board said, "The Latur pattern has been successful for years. While it has produced many high-scoring students, we are now focusing on improving outcomes for all students. Over the years, the overall pass percentage in the division has been declining, and we are actively working to reverse this trend."