Over 65 lakh students across the country failed to clear the Class 10 and 12 board exams last year and the failure rate was higher in state boards than in national boards, according to Ministry of Education (MoE) officials.
An analysis of Grade 10 and 12 examination results from 59 school boards, including 56 state boards and three national boards, revealed that more girls sat for Grade 12 examinations in government-run schools, but the opposite is true in private schools and government-aided schools. However, in all areas of school administration, girls outperform their male counterparts by a wide margin.
In general, between schools with different management, the gap in the percentage of those who pass also favors girls by more than six percent.
“Around 33.5 lakh 10th grade students did not make it to the next grade. While 5.5 lakh candidates did not appear, 28 lakh failed. This is one of the reasons for the low retention rate and gross enrolment ratio (GER) at the higher secondary level,” said a senior education ministry official.
Similarly, around 32.4 lakh 12th grade students did not complete the grade, while 5.2 lakh did not appear and 27.2 lakh failed.
In the 10th grade, the failure rate of students in national boards stood at 6%, while that of state boards was much higher at 16%. In the 12th grade, the failure rate in national boards is 12%, while that of state boards is 18%.
Ministry officials said the open school’s performance was poor in both classes.
The highest number of students who failed in the 10th grade was recorded in Madhya Pradesh board, followed by Bihar and UP. While in the 12th grade, the highest number of students who failed was recorded in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Madhya Pradesh.
“The overall performance of students in 2023 has declined compared to the previous year. This could be due to the broader examination programme,” the official said.
More girls than boys sat for the 10th and 12th grade board exams in government schools.
“This may reflect a gender bias in parental spending on education,” the official said.
Despite this, girls dominated in passing performance throughout the year: in class 12, 87.5 percent of girls in private schools qualified for the exam compared to 75.6 percent of boys, representing nearly nine hundred thousand boys who failed the exam compared to four hundred thousand girls.
A total of 59 examination boards, including three national boards and 56 state boards, reported their results. The exams covered a wide range of syllabi, with some boards following syllabi other than those of the NCERT. Despite the large number of students, the pass percentages indicate a worrying trend.
In the 10th grade, out of the approximately 18.5 million students who sat for the board exams, 84.9 per cent passed. However, around 33.5 lakh students do not progress to the 11th grade due to failures or absences, contributing to a lower retention rate.
In 12th grade, about 82.5 per cent of the 15.5 million students who sat for the exam passed. The pass rate was highest among Nepali and Manipuri language students (85.3 per cent each). A significant number of students (32.4 lakh) did not complete their 12th grade education, either because they failed or because they did not appear for the exams.
In total, over 55 lakh candidates failed to qualify for class 10 and 12 boards in 2023.
No significant differences in performance were observed between students who took the exams in different languages for both grades 10 and 12. However, disparities between regions and board types are evident, highlighting the need for standardization.
A remarkable performance was seen among students who took the exams in regional languages like Marathi (87.4 pc), Punjabi (87.4 pc) and Malayalam (87.4 pc) in class 10. As far as the medium is concerned, apart from Hindi and English, Bengali and Marathi are the medium languages having more than 10 lakh students and their pass percentage is better than English and Hindi.
Science is the most popular course, with 43% of students taking it, predominantly boys, followed by arts, with 39% of students taking it, with a higher representation of girls. In addition, the percentage of girls passing is also slightly higher than that of boys in science and significantly higher in arts.
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