Students and parents check out the results in a Siliguri school. (Kundan Yolmo)

Darjeeling/Siliguri, May 20: English appears to have emerged as the most scoring subject for ICSE and ISC students from the Darjeeling hills this year, while marks in mathematics and the science subjects have gone down compared to 2007.

“Every year, students in ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) fare well in a particular subject and this year they have definitely done well in English,” said Fr Kinley Tshering, the rector of St Joseph’s School (North Point). “The marks in mathematics and science have not been as good as last year.”

Last year, a couple of students from North Point had scored a perfect 100 in ICSE maths but this time the scores have hovered around the 95-97 per cent mark. While only one student of the school had managed to get above 90 in English last year, the number has increased this time, said Tshering.

Fr Lawrence Monterio, the principal of St Augustine’s School in Darjeeling, said English had indeed emerged as the most scoring subject.

“It is very difficult to really pinpoint the reason behind this trend,” Monterio said.

Most schools across the hills and at least four institutions in Siliguri have recorded 100 per cent success in the two exams.

Some of the highest scorers in ICSE from the region are Abhimanue Jalan (Don Bosco, Siliguri, 97.2 per cent), Purba Chatterjee (Nirmala Convent, Siliguri, 96), Abhitsa Jana and Sneha Bhattacharya (St Joseph’s, Matigara, 95.4), Varsha Mintri (St Joseph’s Convent, Kalimpong, 95.4), Ankit Neerav (St Michael’s, Siliguri, 95.2), Gaurav Kumar (North Point, Darjeeling, 95) and Mehebob Alam (St Anthony’s, Kurseong, 94).

In ISC, some of the toppers are Sashank Rathi (Don Bosco, Siliguri, 98 per cent in commerce), Utsav Barman (Don Bosco, Siliguri, 96, science), Neha Bansal (Nirmala Convent, Siliguri, 95.5, science), Debalina Kundu (St Joseph’s, Matigara, 95.25) Vinnie Mitra (St Joseph’s, Matigara, 95, arts) and Manjit Kothari (St Augustine’s, Kalimpong, 92.5, science).