Bhubaneswar, May 31: Sandhyarani Naik, a girl from Bathudi tribe in Odisha, has scored 74 per cent in arts stream in the Plus Two examinations, the results of which were announced today.

A rarity among the people of her tribe, her happiness knew no bounds. "I am very happy that I could score so much. My parents are very happy as they never went to school," said the girl with enthusiasm.

The annual higher secondary examination results for arts, commerce and vocational streams conducted by the Odisha Council of Higher Secondary Education were announced today.

Like Naik, students from a number of tribal-dominated areas of the state have performed well in the examination. Also, the number of SC and ST students passing the examinations has increased. The number of SC students clearing the examination increased by 1,000 in arts stream, while for the commerce stream it went up by 200 in comparision to the previous year.

Once again girls have fared better than their male counterparts, but the pass percentage has dropped in the past two years. While 70.17 students have passed the examination in arts stream, the percentage is 71.43 in commerce. The pass percentage for vocational studies is 61.22. Last year's pass percentage in arts was 71.55 and the year before that it was 76.31 per cent. The pass percentage in commerce stream went up marginally. Last year, it was 70.39 per cent and the year before that it was 69.48 per cent.

Most of the students of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences have passed in the first and second division. Sarpha Marandi, a Santhal girl from Mayurbhanj district, secured 78 per cent. Marandi is not the lone success story, several of her peers have fared well.

The highest pass percentage in arts was 82.78 in Puri district, whereas the lowest was Koraput's 48.08 per cent. In commerce stream, Khurda recorded highest pass percentage at 87.21 and Deogarh lowest at 39.75 per cent.

The authorities said students interested for re-evaluation could apply online within 15 days, while instant exam for candidates, who could not pass, would be held from June 1 to 15.

The number of students scoring first division remained low in arts. While only 19,024 students secured first division, a whopping 1,25,562 students scored third division. A total of 2,48,284 students had written the test. Of them, 1,74,237 cleared it.

Similar is the case with commerce stream. While 28,058 students took the examination, 20,044 of them passed and only 3,860 students were placed in the first division. At least 13,247 students got third division.

The state government is taking steps to increase the pass percentage. Since the past few years, the number of students scoring 90 per cent or above in the Plus Two examinations has been very less.

"We are in the process of introducing education in the CBSE pattern from this year. Apart from prescribing textbooks, we will also hire more teachers and enhance infrastructure," said council chairman Sundarlal Seal.

The results of Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) were also announced today. Around 5,25,605 students took the entrance test on May 14. The examination was held at 88 centres in 21 cities of Odisha.

Ritesh Meher has topped in homeopathy and pharmacy stream, Pragyashree Sahu in MBA, Ananda Prasad Behera in MCA and Amrit Kumar Jethi in MTech.

The examination was held for entry into various disciplines such as MBA, MCA, pharmacy as well as lateral entry for engineering and technology.