Ranchi: Science students in Jharkhand have performed poorly in the state board's class 12 exams, the results of which were announced on Saturday.

The pass percentage in science subjects was only 50.35 percent, down from more than 70 percent in 2008. However, in commerce, the pass percentage was nearly 78 per cent, the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) said.

The results of the arts papers will be announced later.

In the science stream, 56,897 students appeared but only 28,767 passed. The pass percentage of girl students was 49.75 percent.

In the commerce stream, 21,097 students of the 27,634 who had appeared passed the examination.

This year, students performed poorly in both the class 10 and 12 exams in the state. In the secondary examination this year, the pass percentage had declined to 77.82 from last year's 86.99 percent. IANS