Bhubaneswar, May 21: Subham Acharya of Mother's Public School has topped in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class-XII examinations from the Bhubaneswar region, the results of which were announced today. He secured 98.40 per cent marks.

The Bhubaneswar region consists of schools in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Bengal.

Out of a total of 10,69,900 students from across the country, the number of candidates from the Bhubaneswar region stood at 52,080. Of them, about 13,000 were from Odisha. The total pass percentage for Odisha was 86.39. Only 957 students could not pass and girls have fared better than boys in the region.

Ayushi Agrawal of DPS Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, came second in the region with 97.8 per cent marks while Sandeep Pattanayak of Sai International School, Bhubaneswar, and Rishab Kumar of DPS Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, were joint third in the region with 97.4 per cent marks each.

Acharya dedicated his success to his parents and teachers. "My parents or teachers never put pressure on me to study. I gave it my best and had no expectations. The result has come as a surprise and am happy beyond words," said Acharya, who wants to take up research in the field of technology.

"I intend to come up with a modern device or technology that can help control pollution," he said.

To surprise one and all, the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) emerged as the best performing Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools. Popularly known as the "Navodayas", these residential schools tucked away in rural hinterlands have outperformed the Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) as well as their infrastructure-rich private counterparts in cities that are centrally air-conditioned and equipped with facilities for various sports that also includes swimming.

In the Bhubaneswar region, the JNVs have secured a pass percentage of 97.7. A total of 2,827 students from the JNVs had taken the exams from the region and 2,762 emerged successful. Odisha has 31 JNVs - one each in 29 districts and two in Malkangiri.

CBSE regional officer, Bhubaneswar, Lakhan Lal Meena said: "The JNVs have time and again proved that they are the best when it comes to offering quality education."

Bhubaneswar schools

At Mother's Public School, as many as 193 students scored 90 per cent in the science stream while at DAV Public School, Chandrashekharpur, more than 123 students scored above 90 per cent.

At DAV Public School, Unit VIII, 88 students secured more than 90 per cent and 21 of them scoring 95 per cent of above. DAV Public School, Pokhariput, had 43 students scoring above 90 per cent. At Sai International School, 35 per cent students scored more than 90 per cent in the science stream.