Students check the results of Intermediate of Arts on the Internet in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, July 12: Girls fared way better than boys in the Intermediate of Arts (IA) exams. Out of 44 students in the top 15 (more than one student shared one rank), only four are boys.

The huge margin of success of female students has once again endorsed the special schemes such as school uniform plan and bicycle plan launched for the girl child by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

This year, Intermediate humanities topper is Pranita Sareen, a student of Sur Tulshi College, Katihar. She has secured 425 out of 500, followed by Khushbu of Vidyapatinagar, Samastipur, who has scored 421 marks.

The arts results also reflect the reach of higher education in the rural hinterland. Only one student from the state capital, Ankita Kumari of SGDM College, Bailey Road, managed to make it to the top 10 scorers. She has been placed at fifth position securing 413 marks out of 500.

Last week, the Bihar Intermediate Council, which conducts the examination in science, commerce and humanities streams, declared the science and commerce results. The humanities results were announced the last.

Bihar School Examination Board chairman Rajmani Singh announced the IA results at the board office. This year, around 3,59,287 students appeared for the Intermediate humanities examination. Of them, 2,07,921 were girl students while the boys’ number stood at 1,51,366.

Not only did the girl students clinch the top ranks but also secured higher pass percentage as compared to boys. The girls pass percentage stood at 57.87 while only 42.12 per cent boys passed the exams.

Rajmani Singh said: “The higher percentage of girl students is a result of the various schemes introduced by the state government in the direction of women and girls’ education.”

However, the percentage of students securing first division in the Intermediate (humanities) exams has come down as compared to the past two years. This year, only 31.12 per cent students secured first division while in 2010 the percentage was 36.73 and in 2009 the percentage was 34.23.

This year, around 57.87 per cent students secured second division, with the overall pass percentage of students being at 88.15 per cent.

The results for intermediate in vocational course were also announced today. The pass percentage in the vocational course stood at 93.79 per cent.

Around 2,417 students appeared in the examination of which 1,365 were boys and 1,052 were girl students.

Five students were expelled from the examination centre for using unfair means to write the paper.

In vocational courses, around 78.81 per cent students secured first division while 14.89 percent students secured second division.

Very few students were expelled from the examination centres this year.

Few years ago, cheating in board examinations, both Matric and Intermediate, was rampant in Bihar. As a result, a number of students were expelled by the invigilator if caught cheating in the exams.

However, this year, out of 3,61,704 students who appeared in the examination, only 872 students were expelled after being caught cheating during the exams.