SSC pass rate plunges to 68.45pc

The pass rate for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations has dropped sharply to 68.45 percent, the lowest in 15 years. Of the students who passed, 139,032 scored a GPA-5.

The pass rate has dropped by 14.59 percentage points compared with last year. The number of students who received a GPA-5 also fell by 43,097, bdnews24 reports.

Last year, the pass rate was 83.04 percent, with 182,189 scoring a GPA-5.

Since 2010, the highest SSC pass rate was in 2011 with 93.6 percent, while the lowest was in 2018, at 77.8 percent. This year's SSCs were the first public examinations in Bangladesh since the student-led mass uprising. Nearly 1.93 million students registered for the exams.

The 11 educational boards of the country released the results simultaneously at 2pm on Thursday, ending their wait.

Unlike other years, there was no ceremony during which summaries and statistics of the exams were handed over to the head of government before the results were published.

At a press conference organised by the Dhaka Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, Prof Khondker Ehsanul Kabir, the president of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee of the education boards and the chairman of the Dhaka SHED, presented the data on the exams.

Students can get the results through SMS, from their educational institutions, on the education board's website and on mobile phones.

This year's SSC and equivalent exams were held nationwide from Apr 10. The written exams ended on May 13, and were followed by practical exams from May 15-22.

This year, 1,904,086 students took part in the final exams for the SSC and equivalent exams. Of them, 1,303,426 have passed.

The pass rate for the nine general education boards was 68.04 percent, the rate for the madrasah board was 68.09 percent, and the rate for the technical board was 73.63 percent.

As many as 701,538 male students and 788,604 female students from 18,084 schools sat for the SSC exams this year under nine general education boards at 2,291 exam centres.

Under the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board, 150,893 male students and 143,833 female students from 9,063 madrasas took part in the Dakhil exam at 725 exam centres.

A total of 108,385 male students and 34,928 female students participated in the SSC and Dakhil Vocational Exams under the Bangladesh Technical Education Board.

Once again, girls had higher pass rates than boys. The pass rate for boys was 65.88 percent, while the pass rate for girls was 71.03 percent. This means 626,981 boys passed the exams, as did 676,445 girls.

Girls also scored more GPA-5s with 73,616 going to girls and 65,416 going to boys.

Like last year, the exams were held based on the complete syllabus, with full marks and standard duration for each subject.

The students who sat for the SSC and equivalent examinations this year were in grades 9 and 10 of the curriculum prepared in 2012.

It is customary for the SSC and equivalent examinations to be held in February. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was not possible to take these examinations in February for three consecutive years. However, the SSC and equivalent examinations restarted in February 2024.