Dr Sharmila Mary Joseph, once a third-rank holder in Kerala’s 1986 SSLC exams, returned to the centre of the annual results event in a very different role on Friday. Now Principal Secretary for General Education, she announced the 2026 SSLC results, nearly 40 years after her own academic achievement made headlines.

She released the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) results for 2026, where more than 99 per cent of 414,290 students passed the examination.

Back in 1986, she studied at Holy Angel’s Convent in Thiruvananthapuram and scored 580 out of 600 marks. At that time, the state pass percentage was under 47 per cent, and her result was widely reported. Then Education Minister T. M. Jacob had even called her personally to share the news.

A long journey through medicine, civil service and study

After school, Dr Joseph continued her studies and qualified as a medical doctor. She later joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1997. She also earned a master’s degree in public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in the United States.

At the 2026 results press conference, she said seeing students waiting for their results reminded her of the same nervous feeling she had as a student decades ago.

She was chosen to announce the results because there was no Education Minister in place after the Kerala election verdict, as the new cabinet had not yet been formed. In normal circumstances, the Education Minister would release the SSLC results. This time, the responsibility went to the senior-most official in the department, the Principal Secretary for General Education.

Dr Joseph described her role in announcing the results as “destiny”, saying it brought her back to the SSLC spotlight four decades after her own school result.