Bhubaneswar, May 30: The Saraswati Vidya Mandirs have been notching up the top positions in matriculation exams over the last few years. Now, they have made their presence felt in the Plus Two exams, the results of which were declared today.

One of these private schools in the capital has grabbed seven of the top-20 ranks in science stream and one position each in arts and commerce streams.

The BJB (Junior) College, which had been facing criticism for its poor performance over the last two years, has bagged five positions in science, seven in commerce and three in arts in the top 20 merit lists.

The Ravenshaw (Junior) College in Cuttack has also hopped its way back to the merit list by grabbing four top ranks in science, three in arts and five in commerce.

Of the nearly 2.67 lakh students who had appeared for the Plus Two exams this year, 1.89 lakh have been successful, which puts the overall pass percentage at 70.63. The pass score in science and commerce has dipped in comparison to the results of last two years. However, the pass percentage of arts stream has increased by two per cent.

The pass percentage for science stands at 72.53 this year, with only 50,325 of the 69,379 students clearing the exam. The success rate for this stream was 73.48 per cent in 2011 and 73.92 per cent in 2010.

In commerce, of the 25,029 students who appeared for the exams, only 16,777 have passed.

The pass rate has dipped to 67.03 per cent this year from 68.33 per cent in 2011 and 74.40 per cent in 2010.

However, the pass percentage of arts has jumped to 70.63 per cent from 68.32 per cent recorded last year. Around 1.22 lakh of the total 1.72 lakh candidates have passed the exam.

Among districts, students from Deogarh fared best in science with an 87.63 pass percentage, while Keonjhar aced in commerce with 78.81 per cent and Mayurbhanj in arts with 81.34 per cent.

Girls performed better at all three streams. While the pass percentage of girls and boys in science was 74.07 and 71.65, respectively, in commerce it was 64.30 per cent for boys and 74.57 per cent for girls. In arts, too, girls excelled with an aggregate of 74.19 per cent, beating the pass rate of boys at 66.12 per cent.

The scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students also fared well. Of the 26,898 scheduled caste students who wrote the exam, 17,901 passed with 1,403 candidates securing first division.

Similarly, of the 27,021 tribal students, 18,182 passed and 854 were awarded first division marks.

“The government colleges have done well this time and we will try our best to solve the faculty crisis so that studies are not affected,” said minister of higher education Badri Narayan Patra while releasing the results at the state secretariat this morning.

The Kalinga Bharati Residential College (KBRC), a private institute in Cuttack, which had run into controversy after its 2010 results for securing eight top scores in the top 10 list, has, this year, managed to grab two positions in science and seven in commerce, including the top position.

“The crime branch that was inquiring into the KBRC case is yet to hand over the reports to us. We have been sending them reminders at regular intervals,” said Patra.

Officials of the council of higher secondary education, which conducts the Plus Two exams in the state, said 2,491 students had been booked for malpractice while results of 126 students were withheld. A total of 4,809 students have been placed under compartmental. Four colleges — Athmallik College, Evening College in Angul, Humma Salt College and Draupadi Junior College in Gumuda — have been “cancelled” for recording nil results.