Kamal Ghorui
The West Bengal Assembly election results came as a surprise in many ways, reshaping the state’s political map with a clear victory for the BJP, while the ruling Mamata Banerjee-led TMC suffered a setback, and Banerjee herself also lost her seat in a closely watched contest. But one trend in Bengal has remained strikingly consistent: girls continue to outperform boys in board examinations year after year, showing a level of stability that stands in contrast to the volatility seen in electoral politics. The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education announced the Higher Secondary Examination 2026 results, where the overall pass percentage stood at 91.23 per cent. Out of 5,71,355 students who cleared the Class 12 exams, 3,20,230 were girls, compared to 2,51,125 boys, reaffirming female dominance among successful candidates. Overall, the female pass percentage was 92.47% and Male pass percentage was 89.71%. Participation numbers also reflect the same trend. A total of 3,53,111 girls appeared for the examination, higher than 2,82,820 boys, yet they still managed to secure a larger share of passes. The pattern holds across categories as well. In the minority group, girls accounted for 61.48 per cent of successful candidates, while boys stood at 38.52 per cent. Similar dominance is seen across Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and OBC categories, where female students consistently form the majority of successful candidates. The results were declared on May 14 at Vidyasagar Bhavan in Salt Lake, Kolkata, and were made available through official portals and mobile applications shortly after the press conference.The WBCHSE recorded an overall pass percentage of 91.2 per cent this year, with more than 5.71 lakh students clearing the Higher Secondary examinations.
