Speaking of the Class 10th examination, the failure rate of students in national boards was recorded at six per cent.
New Delhi: Education plays an important role in an individual’s life. It molds our future and opens doors of opportunities. It is a powerful resource that gives people the knowledge, skills, and values they need for personal and professional growth. This time, over 65 lakh students did not pass the grade 10th and 12th board examinations last year.
According to the Ministry of Education(MoE) sources, more than 65 lakh students did not clear class 10 and 12 boards last year with the failure rate being higher in state boards than national boards. More girls have appeared in the class 12th examination from government-managed schools, however, the scenario changes in private schools and government-aided schools. The outcome was taken after considering the analysis of class 10 and 12 exam results of 59 school boards, including 56 state boards and three national boards. However, across school management girls are outperforming boys by a big margin. The pass percentage is also in favour of the girls by more than six percentage points.
A source was quoted as saying to the news agency PTI, “Around 33.5 lakh students of class 10 did not reach next grade. While 5.5 lakh candidates did not appear, 28 lakh failed. This is one of the cause for low retention rate and Gross Enrolment Ration (GER) at higher secondary level,” Likewise, around 32.4 lakh class 12 students did not complete the grade. While 5.2 lakh did not appear, 27.2 lakh failed.
Student Failure Rate in National Boards Vs Student Failure Rate in State Boards
Speaking of the Class 10th examination, the failure rate of students in national boards was recorded at six per cent. However, the failure rate of students in state boards was much higher at 16 per cent. Likewise, In class 12th examination, the failure rate at national boards is 12 per cent. However, the failure rate of students in state boards is 18 per cent.
Open-School Performance Poor
Furthermore, the analysis showed that the open-school performance was poor in both classes. Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of student failures in Class 10th. Following Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and UP secured second and third position respectively. While in class 12, the highest student failure was reported from Uttar Pradesh followed by Madhya Pradesh. “Overall performance of students in 2023 declined in comparison with previous year. This could be due to larger syllabus for examination,” the source was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
More girls appeared for class 10 and 12 board exams from government schools than boys. “This may reflect gender bias while spending on education by parents,” the source added, PTI reported.
Despite that, girls dominated in pass performance across all management — in class 12, 87.5 per cent of girls in private schools qualified the exam as against 75.6 per cent boys, which is close over nine lakh boys failing in the exam as against four lakh girls. A total of 59 examination boards, including three national boards and 56 state boards, reported their results. The examinations covered a broad range of curricula, with some boards following non-NCERT syllabi. Though the number of students was large, the pass percentages indicate a troubling trend.
In class 10, out of approximately 18.5 million students who appeared for the board exams, 84.9 per cent passed. However, around 33.5 lakh students are not advancing to Class 11 due to failures or non-appearance, contributing to a lower retention rate.
In class 12, about 82.5 per cent of the 15.5 million students who appeared passed. The pass rate was highest among students in the Nepali and Manipuri languages (85.3 pc each). A significant number of students — 32.4 lakh — did not complete their class 12 education, either failing or not appearing for the exams.
Cumulatively, over 55 lakh candidates failed to qualify the class 10 and 12 boards in 2023. No significant difference in performance was observed between students taking the exams in different languages for both classes 10 and 12. However, disparities between regions and types of boards are evident, highlighting a need for standardisation.
Notable performance was seen among students taking the exams in regional languages such as Marathi (87.4 pc), Punjabi (87.4 pc), and Malayalam (87.4 pc) in class 10. Medium-wise, apart from Hindi and English, Bengali and Marathi are the medium language which have over 10 lakh students and their pass percentage is better than English and Hindi.
Science Most Popular Stream
Science is the most popular stream, with 43 per cent of students, predominantly chosen by boys, followed by arts chosen by 39 per cent of students, with a higher representation of girls. Moreover, pass percentage of girls too is marginally higher than boys in science and significantly in arts.