PANJIM: The Class X pass percentage recording a high of 91.57 has led to a rush for admissions to Class XI, with students fiercely competing to get into the top higher secondary schools, even as the latter have raised the bar by upping the cut off percentages.

Friday morning saw groups of students, along with parents, queuing up to collect admission forms, from as early as 7.30 am.

A record of 17,193 students will be seeking admissions to Class XI this year with Goa recording the highest pass percentage in the last six years owing to which the HSS across Goa have set 80-85 percent cut off for science, 60-65 percent for commerce and 50-55 percent for arts.

“This year we have kept a cut off of 80 percent for science, 60 for commerce and 55 for arts. Students having a lesser percentage will be put on the waiting list which will be displayed on the notice board of the school,” said an official of Dhempe HSS of Arts, Science and Commerce.

Sources said that the rush for admissions is primarily due to National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) – an additional optional subject that helped many students clear the Class X exams. “Besides increase in students appearing, NSQF has added to more students passing the exams” sources said.

An official from St Xavier’s HSS, Mapusa said, “This year the cut off for commerce is 65 percent, arts is 60 and for science stream we have kept the cut off percentage at 75-80.” Similar cut off percentages were also at Don Bosco HSS in Panjim and Saraswat HSS in Mapusa.

“The demand, particularly for the science stream, is growing and our cut off percentage soon after the results (announced on May 25) was 80 percent for science. We started receiving a number of queries from parents and students right after the results were announced. Today the rush began as early as 7.45 am,” said an official from a reputed higher secondary school in Panjim.