Chandigarh, Jul 21 (IANS): The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) on Tuesday declared the Class 12 results on the basis of best performing subject formula, state Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla said.

He said out of the total 2,86,378 students, who had appeared for the examinations before Covid-19 outbreak, 2,60,547 students (90.98 per cent) passed the board examination. The minister said the pass percentage of students belonging to rural areas is higher than urban area students as it recorded 93.39 and 91.96 percent, respectively.

The minister said for the consecutive second year, government schools continued to soar ahead of affiliated and associated schools in terms of pass percentage.

A total of 94.32 per cent students of government schools passed the examinations, while 91.84 per cent and 87.04 per cent students of affiliated and associated schools, respectively, managed to get promoted for higher studies.

He said 92.77 per cent regular students excelled the Class 12 examination.

Singla said in 2017 the pass percentage was below 63 per cent, which registered slight growth in 2018 by rising up to 65.97 per cent.

In 2019, around 86.41 per cent students passed, which was notably higher than previous years.

He said as examinations of some subjects got cancelled, the PSEB has adopted the best performing subject formula.

If any student had appeared in the exam for four subjects, then the average of best three subjects was awarded to the student in the subjects for which exams got cancelled.

Singla said the same formula has been implemented on those students who had appeared in exams for division improvement in more than one subject.

This year 68.26 per cent students of the open school category passed the exams.