Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala’s Directorate of General Education on Tuesday announced that 77.97 per cent of regular school students cleared the Second Year Higher Secondary Examination held in March 2026, making them eligible for higher studies.
The figure marks a marginal increase from last year’s 77.81 per cent.
Education Minister M Shamsudeen, while announcing the results, said 372,423 regular candidates from 1,990 schools appeared for the examination, of whom 290,381 qualified for higher studies.
Girls outperformed boys with a pass percentage of 86.89 per cent (167,475 out of 192,751), while boys recorded 68.41 per cent (122,906 out of 179,672).
Stream-wise, Science recorded the highest pass percentage at 84.52 per cent, with 158,836 students qualifying out of 187,933 candidates.
Commerce registered 74.74 per cent (81,147 out of 108,567), while Humanities recorded 66.38 per cent (50,398 out of 75,923).
Among school categories, aided schools recorded a pass percentage of 82.82 per cent (150,604 out of 181,851), unaided schools 78.18 per cent (17,841 out of 22,821), and government schools 72.66 per cent (121,661 out of 167,430).
A total of 30,561 regular candidates secured an A+ in all subjects, up from 30,145 last year. Of them, 23,095 were girls and 7,466 boys.
The Science stream accounted for 22,970 A+ holders, Commerce 5,264, and Humanities 2,327.
Sixty students secured a perfect score of 1,200 out of 1,200.
As many as 44,479 students secured an A grade and above overall, 51,106 B+ and above, 64,375 B and above, 63,049 C+ and above, 36,602 C and above, and 209 D+ and above.
A total of 81,190 students received a D grade, while 701 received an E grade.
District-wise, Idukki topped with a pass percentage of 84.64 per cent, while Kasaragod recorded the lowest at 71.72 per cent.
Malappuram produced the highest number of A+ students at 4,621.
A total of 76 schools achieved a 100 per cent pass rate, up from 57 last year, while the number of schools recording below 30 per cent pass percentage dropped to 32 from 46.
Government HSS Thirurangadi in Malappuram recorded the highest enrolment with 835 candidates and achieved a pass percentage of 85.39 per cent.
Government Rajah’s HSS Kottakkal (820 students, 85 per cent), St Mary’s HSS Pattom in Thiruvananthapuram (797 students, 80.55 per cent), and MSM HSS Kallingalparamba (770 students, 88.31 per cent) were also among the schools with the highest enrolment.
In alternative streams, the Technical stream recorded 1,109 qualifiers out of 1,523 candidates, registering a pass percentage of 72.82 per cent, with 50 students securing A+.
In the Art stream at Kerala Kalamandalam Art Higher Secondary School, 52 out of 63 students passed, recording a pass percentage of 82.54 per cent, with two A+ holders.
Under SCOLE Kerala open schooling, 12,982 out of 25,494 candidates qualified, registering a pass percentage of 50.92 per cent, with 537 A+ scorers. Stream-wise, Science recorded 81.76 per cent (2,582 out of 3,158), Humanities 47.43 per cent (6,056 out of 12,769), and Commerce 45.41 per cent (4,344 out of 9,567).
Malappuram recorded the highest open school enrolment with 9,389 candidates.
In the Private Compartmental category for the 2017–2025 batches, 14,595 out of 41,076 candidates passed, registering a pass percentage of 35.53 per cent.
Officials said 412,579 candidates appeared for examinations in 55 subjects.
