Pune: In a stark reminder of the famous ‘Latur Pattern’, a large number of students securing 100 per cent marks in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination this year, are from Latur division.
As the overall SSC result in the State has dropped tremendously, the number of students scoring 100 per cent has come down to only 20 across the State, as opposed to the 125 students last year.
However, out of these, 16 students belong to Latur division. Interestingly, even last year, 70 out of 125 students were from Latur, thus raising the eyebrows of experts and educationists.
‘Latur Pattern’ of study is a term commonly used because the result of students from Latur improved drastically in the early 2000s because of the continuous and methodical practice of model question papers before the Board examination.
“I believe that the Latur Pattern is far from over, considering the large number of coaching classes prospering in Latur,” said former Chairperson of the State Board Vasant Kalpande.
He added, “The coaching classes are a huge source of economy in Latur. They can make the students do anything for marks, as there is a huge competition between the owners of these classes. Latur Pattern had emerged from a similar scenario and it still exists.”
On an earlier occasion, education expert AL Deshmukh had also pointed out that apart from that debate that whether or not the Latur Pattern exists, the State Board certainly needs to figure out what is happening in a particular division, if a trend like this shows up.
However, according to Parmeshwar Ingole, a student and aspiring teacher from Marathwada, the coaching classes help the students study well, and that might be the reason for Latur’s extraordinary performance.
“Latur is very conducive for education. With thousands of coaching classes, several students come to the city from the surrounding areas, which makes it a hub of students and study. Competition does exist amongst the coaching classes, but I feel that if anything, it drives the students to perform better,”
Ingole said.
While 16 of the 100 per cent scorers are from Latur, three are from Aurangabad and one is from Amravati.
Several students of Class X have been scoring 100 per cent marks in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination since the past couple of years, owing to the extra marks they score because of their participation in art, sports and other extracurricular activities.
A total of 1,36,979 students in the State have been benefited by these extra marks this year.
