Minister of State for Education Anil Deshmukh added that they had received several appeals and suggestions from parents and teachers regarding scrapping the declaration of the merit lists for SSC and HSC examinations.

Deshmukh and Joshi also appealed to parents to refrain from imposing their unfulfilled career ambitions and desires upon their children, and instead allow them the freedom to decide their future as per their likings and aptitude, at the felicitation ceremony of divisional board rankers organised by the Maharashtra Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education today.

Eighteen toppers, twelve boys and six girls, who ranked first inthe eight divisional boards of Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Amravati, Nashik and Latur, at the HSC and SSC examinations this year, were honoured with mementos and gifts at the Nehru Memorial Hall.

``Boys surpass girls in malpractices at the examinations, but girls always outnumber boys where the pass percentage is concerned,'' said Anil Deshmukh. ``Though it is important to honour the merit holders and achievers, we should not neglect the problem of failures who need our encouragement and support to perform better.''

Joshi also said that the education department was thinking of introducing special courses for students who fail the SSC examination.

Deshmukh stressed the need for intelligent and enthusiastic young blood in politics and administration, which is no longer appealing to today's achievers. ``Politicians are a misunderstood lot,'' he said.

Shreyas Bangale, SSC topper from Latur, and Onkar Kurode, SSC topper from Nagpur, declared that they would donate a part of the cash rewardsthey had received to the National Defence Fund, for the aid of soldiers in Kargil.

Dr Vasant Kalpande, chairman of the Maharashtra Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Pune, gave the welcome speech, Rameshchandra Kanade, Education Secretary, Vasant Patil, Director of Education were also present.