Ranchi: Students in Jharkhand performed poorly in the 2009 secondary school examination with only a 77.82 percent pass rate, compared to 86.99 in 2008, according to the results announced Saturday.

A total of 3,55,393 students appeared in the examination of which 276,588 cleared it. The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) had started grading system in examination this year onwards.

Male students (79.63 percent) were more successful then their female counterparts (75.32 percent).

The state's Koderma district displayed the best performance, with more than 92 percent students there clearing the examination. IANS