Alarming Student Failure Rates in Board Exams: State vs Central Boards

The Ministry of Education reports that over 65 lakh students did not pass class 10 and 12 board exams last year. State boards recorded higher failure rates than central boards. More girls appeared for exams in government schools, highlighting potential gender bias in educational spending. The overall performance of students in 2023 declined compared to the previous year.

Over 65 lakh students failed to pass their class 10 and 12 board exams nationwide last year, with state boards showing a higher failure rate compared to the central board, according to Ministry of Education (MoE) officials.

An analysis of results from 59 school boards, including 56 state boards and three national boards, revealed that more girls appeared for the class 12 exam in government-managed schools, unlike private and government-aided schools. 'Around 33.5 lakh class 10 students are not advancing to the next grade. While 5.5 lakh candidates did not appear, 28 lakh failed. This contributes to the low retention rate and Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the higher secondary level,' a senior MoE official said.

Similarly, around 32.4 lakh class 12 students did not complete their grade, with 5.2 lakh not appearing and 27.2 lakh failing. For class 10, the failure rate in the central board was 6%, compared to 16% in state boards. In class 12, the central board failure rate was 12%, while state boards recorded 18%. Poor performance was also noted in open schools. The highest failure rates for class 10 were in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh, while for class 12, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh led.

'Overall student performance in 2023 declined compared to the previous year, possibly due to a larger syllabus,' noted the official. More girls appeared for board exams in government schools than boys, underscoring gender bias in educational spending. However, girls outperformed boys in passing rates across all types of schools.

(With inputs from agencies.)