Kolkata, May 7 (Reporter) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated the students who have passed the West Bengal Higher Secondary Examination on Wednesday. In a message on a social media platform, the chief minister wrote, “My dear students, who have passed the Higher Secondary Examination this year, I send you all my love and best wishes! I hope you will achieve more success in the future – making the country and the world brighter.” Showering her blessing on all the children, she wrote, “Today, on this special day of your life, I extend my congratulations and best wishes to your parents, teachers, and guardians. It is because of them that you have achieved such good results today. And to those who may not have achieved the desired results, I would say, Don't be discouraged. Keep trying. You'll see that next time it will be better.” In a remarkably short span of just 50 days, the West Bengal Council for Higher Secondary Examination declared the results for the 2025 Higher Secondary Examinations on May 7, Wednesday, where a total of 473,919 candidates appeared for the exams under the ‘regular’ category. Interestingly enough, this is the last year for the old syllabus, which has been continuing since 1978. From the academic year 2026 onwards, the Council is introducing a semester-based evaluation system. Under this new structure, students will appear for four semesters in total—two in Class XI and two in Class XII. This shift is aimed at reducing academic pressure and enhancing continuous assessment. According to board officials, this transition is part of a broader education reform aimed at aligning with national standards and improving the quality of evaluation. Council President Chiranjib Bhattacharjee commented on the occasion, stating, “This result is better than the previous years.” From a statistical standpoint, the pass percentage saw a slight but significant improvement. In 2024, the overall pass rate was 90%, which increased to 90.79% in 2025. Among male students, the pass rate stood at 92.3%, while for female students it was 88.13%. A total of 72 students were named in the merit list, with 14 of them belonging to the Hooghly district. The top three positions were closely contested. Rupayan Pal from Burdwan CMS School in East Burdwan district secured the first rank with an impressive 497 marks (99.4%). He was followed by Tushar Debnath of Boxirhat High School in Cooch Behar district, who scored 496 (99.2%). The third position went to Rajarshi Adhikari of Arambagh High School in Hooghly district with 495 marks (99%). So far as the stream-wise results are concerned, in the Science stream, 88,022 students passed, registering a pass rate of 99.46%. The Commerce stream saw 30,887 successful candidates with a pass percentage of 97.52%. The Arts stream, while having the largest number of students, recorded 3,61,010 pass-outs with a pass rate of 88.25%. These figures underscore the overall academic progress and consistency across disciplines...////...