Pune div jumps 4 places, ranks 2nd with 91.3% pass rate

Pune: Pune division, comprising Pune, Ahilyanagar, and Solapur districts, achieved an overall pass percentage of 91.3%, securing the second rank among all the nine administrative divisions in Maharashtra. It was Pune's performance in science and commerce that led to its jump from the 6th place in 2025 to a spot behind Konkan division that topped all the others.Arts continued to be Pune's Achilles heel with only 77.4% students qualifying the exam. Of the total 2.41 lakh who appeared for the exam from the division, 2.20 lakh passed and within the division itself, Pune district led with 93.3%, followed by Ahmednagar at 90.3%, and Solapur at 87.2%.The lack of teachers and general indifference to the education sector are the major reasons for the lower marks, Prakash Pawar, vice-principal of Fergusson College, said. "For the past few years, there is no teacher recruitment. The education sector is going through a bad phase and it is evident in the way results have come out. This general indifference to Arts field is also seen among parents and students. Many think there is no future in it, or take it too lightly and all of this results in poor performance," Pawar added.Pune's share of high-scorers, 90% and above, was slightly lower than the state average. In Pune, 981 of the passing students scored above 90%, whereas statewide, 7,510 students scored above 90%. Maximum number of students in Pune division, as many as 1,09,634, scored in the 45% to 60% range, making up nearly half of the successful candidates.Aftab Anwar Shaikh, principal of Choice College of Arts & Commerce, Warje, attributed the decline in students scoring well in Arts to poor writing skills. "Arts or humanities has descriptive subjects. Students need to write more. But with increase in screentime, writing has taken a hit and that is showing up in the results. Cellphones have levelled the playing field but that also means across the social strata, screentime of students has increased, and writing ability decreased," Shaikh added.Most Arts students, according to Mahendra Ganpule, spokesperson of Maharashtra State Headmasters' Forum, think humanities is easy but they don't realize that it is tough and requires serious and consistent studies to pass the exams.Shubhan Sonar, who scored 100 in maths, said it is about understanding all the concepts and applying them and to do so it needs immense practice of every type of question. "Some questions are calculation heavy while some are concept based, both needs patience and practice to solve in real time exam. It is necessary to give majority of time to mathematics as it easy to score high with practice which involves concept clarity and fast problem-solving ability which comes with practice," he added. Admission Notices OutSenior colleges have started putting up admission notices on their websites for undergraduate programmes. Most have online application processes. Fergusson College will make its applications online for FYBA/ BSc/ BVoc courses from Monday and some like Abasaheb Garware College have adopted a hybrid mode of application for FYBSc admissions starting from May 5, with admissions offered on a first-come first-serve basis, till the seats are filled.
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