From 93.58% to 62.25%: SSC, equivalent pass rates continue to plunge since 2021

Highlights:

• SSC pass rate falls to 62.25%, the lowest level since 2021
• Overall pass rate drops 4.08 percentage points from last year
• GPA-5 achievers fall to 116,676 across all 11 education boards
• Experts call for data-driven research to identify causes behind falling results

The average pass rate across 11 education boards in the Secondary School Certificate and equivalent examinations has dropped to 62.25% this year, marking the lowest point in a multi-year decline from the record high recorded in 2021.

This year's results were published at a ceremony at the education ministry today (10 August). The latest overall figure reflects a 4.08 percentage point drop from last year's 66.33%.

The pass rates were recorded at 93.58% in 2021, 87.44% in 2022, 80.39% in 2023 and 83.04% in 2024.

Under the nine general education boards this year, the average pass rate stood at 64.05%, down from 68.04% last year, according to data from the Ministry of Education.

The Technical Education Board posted a pass rate of 58.20%, declining from 73.63% last year, while the Madrasah Board recorded 55.49%, declining from 68.9% last year.

Top scorers also decreased remarkably, with 1,16,676 students securing GPA-5 across all boards, down from 1,39,032 last year, 1,82,129 in 2024, 1,83,578 in 2023, 2,69, 602 in 2022, and 1,83, 340 in 2021.  

SSC pass rate lowest in 19 years

This year's pass rate fell to 62.25%, the lowest in 19 years, as 690,608 students failed to clear the exams. On the other hand, the pass rate was only 57.37% in 2007.

The decline is sharp compared with a decade ago. In 2016, 88.29% of students passed the exams, meaning the rate has fallen by 26.04 percentage points.

After 2016, the pass rate remained mostly in the 70% to 80% range. It stood at 80.35% in 2017, 77.77% in 2018, 82.20% in 2019 and 82.87% in 2020.

The rate jumped to a record 93.58% in 2021, when SSC exams were held under a shortened syllabus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

English, math emerge as weak subjects

English and mathematics emerged as the weakest-performing subjects in the examinations, with several education boards recording pass rates below 80%, while ICT posted near-perfect results across almost all boards.

Among the general education boards, English pass rates ranged from 66.64% in Mymensingh to 81.29% in Cumilla, according to the published results.

Mathematics recorded its lowest pass rate in Mymensingh at 69.61%, while Jashore posted the highest at 83.34%. Pass rates in the subject were also below 80% in Rajshahi, Barishal, Sylhet and Dinajpur.

ICT, meanwhile, emerged as the best-performing subject. Its pass rate ranged from 98.66% in Dhaka to 99.99% in Chattogram among the general education boards. 

The lowest subject-wise pass rate overall was recorded in accounting under the Technical Education Board, at just 20.34%.

Humanities students did worst  

More than half of the humanities students across the country failed, according to data shared by the education ministry. 

The pass rate among humanities students stood at 48.74%, significantly lower than the rates in science and business studies.

Of the 617,885 humanities examinees, 301,174 passed the examinations.

In the science group, 457,188 of the 566,958 examinees passed, resulting in a pass rate of 80.64%. Meanwhile, 141,248 of the 219,696 students in business studies passed, with a pass rate of 64.29%.

The figures highlight a sharp gap in performance among the three major groups, with humanities recording the lowest pass rate.

Nearly seven lakh students fail 

A total of 18,29,485 students registered to sit for the examinations this year. Of them, 11,38,877 passed while 6,90,608 failed.

The examinations began on 21 April and concluded on 20 May.

What experts say 

Eminent educationist Dr Manzoor Ahmed said three factors could explain the decline in results.

He told TBS that changes in supervision and efforts to improve quality may be among the reasons. But differences in students' learning opportunities and the academic environment in schools could also have played a role.

He said these factors should be studied by comparing annual examination results to assess their reliability.

"Research is needed to assess students' performance, but such studies are not conducted regularly in Bangladesh," he said. "It would be wrong to blame the decline in pass rates without examining changes in exam management, supervision and students' learning opportunities."

"The real reasons for the decline must be identified through data and evidence," said the professor emeritus at Brac University. 

Dhaka Education Board Chairman Syed Akhtaruzzaman said the examination process was brought under strict surveillance for the first time, with CCTV cameras used throughout the exams.

"Along with direct monitoring by the education minister, special measures were taken to prevent cheating," he said.

"As a result, students who studied regularly were able to perform well, while those with gaps in their preparation faced difficulties in the exams," Akhtaruzzaman added.

Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director of Campaign for Popular Education and a former adviser to the caretaker government, said a lack of skilled teachers and quality teaching is causing students to fall behind and drop out.

Nearly 1.361m seats to remain vacant in HSC admissions 

Nearly 13.61 lakh seats are expected to remain vacant in Class XI this year as the number of SSC and equivalent examination passers has fallen, leaving colleges and madrasas with far more seats than eligible students.

There are around 25 lakh seats available for Class XI admission across colleges and madrasas, while 11,38,877 students passed the SSC and equivalent examinations this year.

Dhaka Board Chairman Akhtaruzzaman said the number of vacant seats after Class XI admissions will increase from last year as the pass rate has fallen.