New Delhi |Students scoring above 90 per cent and 95 per cent marks in the CBSE Class 12 exams, the results of which were declared on Monday, rose by more than 1,400 and 4,000, respectively, compared to last year.

The pass percentage also witnessed a marginal increase, rising to 87.98 per cent from last year's 87.33 per cent.

Girls outshone boys, recording a 6.40 percentage point higher passing rate.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that there will be no merit list to "avoid unhealthy competition".

Officials said the board has also decided to scrap awarding first, second and third divisions based on scores.

"According to the earlier decision of the board to avoid unhealthy competition among students, the CBSE has not published the merit list. However, the board will issue merit certificates to 0.1 per cent of students who have scored the highest marks in the various subjects," said CBSE Examination Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj.

As many as 1.16 lakh students have scored above 90 per cent and 24,068 above 95 per cent. Last year, 1.12 lakh students had scored above 90 per cent and 22,622 above 95 per cent.

Among the students who scored above 90 per cent, 262 are from the Children With Special Needs (CSWN) category. Forty-three students from the CSWN category have scored above 95 per cent.

More than 16.21 lakh students appeared for the Class 12 examination this time.

The Trivandrum region recorded the highest pass percentage at 99.91 while the Prayagraj region reported the lowest at 78.25.

More than 1.22 lakh students have been placed in the compartment category against 1.25 lakh last year.

In CBSE-affiliated schools abroad, 95.84 per cent of students have passed the Class 12 exams.

Schools under the Central Tibetan Schools Administration achieved the highest pass percentage at 99.23, followed by Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas at 98.90 per cent, and Kendriya Vidyalayas at 98.81 per cent.

Government-aided and government schools achieved a pass percentage of 91.42 and 88.23, respectively.

Private schools have achieved a pass percentage of 87.70