Cuttack, April 29: Students of Shailabala Women’s College have excelled in Plus Three examinations, the results of which were announced by Utkal University.

Yesterday, official sources said, six students of the oldest women’s college in the state figured in the top-20 list in various subjects, including economics, education, English and library science.

The overall pass rate in arts stream stood at 84.19 per cent, while that for commerce is 82.98 per cent. As many as 81.45 per cent students have passed in science stream.

“Though we are yet to receive results related data and marks of individual students, we have learnt that six of our students have topped in various subjects,” said principal Roshanara Begum.

A senior college official said that last year, 10 students had secured top positions in the examination. The overall results have been satisfactory.

The students, on the other hand, have credited the success to better teacher-student relationship, infrastructure and dedicated teachers at basic study facilities at the college. Sources said bulk of the vacancies for teachers had been filled up, while adequate steps were taken to develop the college set-up.

Earlier, 43 lecturers and other faculty posts of the sanctioned 90 posts were lying vacant. The vacancies were filled up a couple of months ago. The autonomous status, however, still eludes the college, and the state government has not yet taken any concrete steps in this regard. Last year, the college completed its centenary year. “We are happy for the results as a lot of good students take admission in the college which has a great history of its own. As bulk of the lecturers’ posts have been filled up, we are sure that the students will continue to perform well in examinations,” said Ritu Das, a student.

Shailabala Das, the adopted daughter of Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das, the architect of modern Odisha, established the Shailabala Women’s College, the oldest institute for women’s education in the country. Intermediate classes started functioning in 1913 from the premises of Ravenshaw Girls’ School, while both the school and college were subsequently shifted to a new locality in 1917. The intermediate college was raised to the status of a first-grade degree college in 1946.

At present, over 2,500 students from various parts of the state are undergoing their higher education at this premier college.