The CBSE Class XII results saw a dip in the success rate of students this year, with 79.87 per cent of those appearing in the board examination clearing it as against 81 per cent last year.

Over seven lakh students appeared in the Class XII examination held in March this year, and nearly 5.5 lakh cleared the hurdle, according to the results announced today.

A total number of 7,00,983 candidates were registered for Class XII examination from 6,035 schools this year. The pass percentage witnessed a dip by over one percentage point from last year.

The Board examination last year saw 6,37,976 students appear for the exam, and 51,6760 clearing it. Last year's pass percentage had marked an increase of 0.09 per cent as compared to the 2008 results.

Girls, meanwhile, continued the trend of outscoring boys this year with their pass percentage put at 85.28, way ahead of the boys' 75.90, the statistics released by the Board said.

Among all the regions of the country, Chennai registered the best results, with a pass rate of 92.17 per cent followed by Delhi, a distant second at 84.97 per cent.

The performance of state-run schools also registered an improvement this year with a pass rate of 84.49 per cent as against last year's 82.81 per cent.

The central government-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas also registered better results with 95.31 per cent of students clearing the exam, an improvement of over one percentage point against last year's 94.09 per cent.

The performance of private schools, however, registered a significant drop, with only 42 per cent students managing to clear the exam as against 49.72 per cent last year.

The overall pass percentage of regular students is 81.95 as compared to 41.99 of private or patrachar candidates.

This year, the Class XII students appeared in Graphics Design Course and Heritage Crafts for the first time.

Candidates, who are not happy with their results, can apply for verification of marks to the respective regional offices within 21 days from the date of declaration of result.

As it announced the results, CBSE also launched post- result psychological counselling for students through tele- helpline, Interactive Voice Response System and its website.

The counselling service that CBSE has been providing since 1998, will continue till June four this year, and is aimed at helping students cope with post result situations.

This year, CBSE has introduced a Centralised Access System, and students from any part of the country can call a centralised number.