Bhubaneswar, June 3: Thirteen students from primitive tribal groups studying at the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences passed the Council of Higher Secondary Examination this year in arts and commerce, the results of which were announced on Wednesday.

Another 17 Bonda tribe students, who were sent to the institute by chief minister Naveen Patnaik two years ago, have also performed impressively, clearing the Plus Two exams with flying colours.

The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences has over 10,000 tribal students on its rolls and the performance of those who wrote the examination this year continues an impressive trend that began seven years ago when the first batch of students appeared for the exam.

As was the case throughout the state, girls outperformed boys here as well.

Sadhak Karjee, a member of the Saura tribe from Gajapati district, top scored in the arts stream with 80 per cent. In the commerce stream, Bhumija tribe member Lilimani Singh from Balasore scored 78 per cent, the highest in the institute. The overall pass percentage in arts and commerce in the state was 71.55 and 70.39 respectively. In comparison, the pass percentage of the institute in arts was 99, while commerce students achieved cent per cent results this year.

SC & ST enrolment

The enrolment of both scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students for higher secondary education has seen a marked increase over the years. The number of scheduled caste candidates went up from 27,359 in 2012 to 43,065 this year, while their pass percentage was 67.15. The scheduled tribe enrolment also went up from 27,021 in 2012 to 46,432. However, their pass percentage dropped from 67.28 in 2012 to 63.82 this year.