Shimla, May 16 -- Scoring a whopping 99.43%, Saina Thakur of Neugal Model School Bhawarna, Palampur, topped the state in the Himachal board Class-10 exams. The Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBOSE) declared the results on Thursday afternoon. The second position went to Ridhima Sharma of RK Senior Secondary Public School, Ghandalwin, Bilaspur, who scored 99.2%. The third rank was shared by Mudita Sharma of Modern Public Senior Secondary School, Swarghat, Solan, and Priyanka Sharma of Minerva Senior Secondary School, Ghumarwin, Bilaspur, who secured 99.14%. HPBOSE chairman-cum-deputy commissioner, Kangra, Hemraj Bairwa, said that out of the 95, 495 students who appeared for the exam, 75, 862 (79.8%) have cleared it. He added that 117 students made it to the merit list, out of which 88 are girls. As many as 20 students are from government schools and 97 are from private schools, he added. Saina said that her goal is to become a computer science engineer. Saina Thakur,gave the credit of her success to her parents and teachers. "Mymother is a housewifeand father works in a hotel. They always inspired me to study," she said. Students can look up the results on the board website: www.hpbose.org. For any assistance, they can contact the board at 01892-242119 (Shimla, Sirmour, Lahaul Spiti, Kinnaur), 01892.242128 (Kullu, Una, Solan), 01892-242148 (Hamirpur, Chamba, Bilaspur), 01892-242149 (Kangra) 01892-242151 (Mandi) from 10 am to 5 pm on working days. The overall pass percentage saw an improvement in 2025 at 78.9% as compared to 74.61% in 2024. However, this is still low from 2023, which registered 89.7%, and 2022, which was 87.50% and 2021, when it was 99.7%. HPBOSE secretary Vishal Sharma has attributed the success to a change in the pattern of question papers. "We have changed the pattern and have introduced multiple-choice questions in all subjects. We gave OMR sheets for these MCQs. Apart from this, the marking pattern was also changed and teachers were trained," said Sharma. Of 95,495 students appeared , 75,862 cleared, while 427 remained absent, informed Sharma, adding that 13,574 candidates failed the examination and 5,563 got compartment. Out of 48,946 boys who took the exam, 38,002 passed, and out of 46,122 girls appearing for the exam, 37,860 cleared. The Class 10 examinations were conducted from March 4 to 22 across 2,300 examination centres set up across the state. "The candidates who wishto get their answer books re-evaluated or rechecked can do so by applying online on theboard's website. But to apply for revaluation, it is mandatory to have at least 20% marks in the concerned subject," he said. Lauding the students, Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, "Their achievement was the result of their consistent hard work and dedication towards the studies. There is no shortcut to success in life and it can only be attained through unwavering dedication, sincerity and devotion." Deputy chief minister Mukesh Agnihotri said, "The students have achieved this success on the basis of hard work, discipline and studies."...