Bhaktapur, July 7:

Prabhu Dungana, a lone student of the Nawajyoti School (symbol No 0281643) who appeared in this year’s School Leaving Certificate examination, failed to get through the ‘iron-gate’ this time.

However, the overall pass percentage of Bhaktapur district has gone up from 72.85 per cent last year to 77.46 per cent this year.

Altogether, 3,789 examinees from 98 schools in the district, including 164 private students, had appeared in the exam.

Of these, 2,935 students got through — 329 with distinction, 1,679 secured the first division, 908 the second division and 27 passed in the third division.

“We have achieved better results since we started conducting the district-level examination as an overall academic evaluation of a student,” said Hirakaji Maharjan, an official at the District Education Office.

He said that the eighth standard exams should evaluate the overall academic capability of a student. “The outcome of our effort is right in front of you; this year’s result in the district,” he said.

What, however, remained static this year in the district is the difference in pass percentage between the government and private schools. The pass percentage of the private schools is 83.82 per cent, while only 70.19 per cent of the students got through in government schools. Only 22 examinees of government schools secured distinction, while 229 students of private schools grabbed it, thus depicting a clear contrast.

Despite the improvement in results in the district this year, schools like the Nawajyoti School at Dattatreya, who are conducting morning classes for the past two years, have not fared well in the exams.

There is a provision that a school producing ‘nil’ results in the examination for three consecutive years might not be allowed to operate further.

Allowances are slashed for such schools by 15 per cent in the first year and 25 per cent in second.