65 lakh students to fail class 10, 12 final exams in 2023: State boards report record high failure rates

According to sources in the Ministry of Education (MoE), over 65 lakh students failed their final examinations in classes 10 and 12 last year. The state boards recorded a higher failure rate than the national boards.

An analysis of examination results from 59 school boards (56 state boards and three national boards) found that more girls sat the Grade 12 examinations in government schools, while the trend was the opposite in private and government-subsidised schools.

However, in school management, girls perform significantly better than boys. The pass rate also favors girls by more than six percentage points.

Around 33.5 lakh students of class 10 did not progress to the next class, with 5.5 lakh candidates absent and 28 lakh failing the exams. This significant number of students not progressing contributes to the low retention rate and Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the higher secondary level, a source quoted by news agency PTI said.

Similarly, around 32.4 lakh students of class 12 failed to secure the marks. Of them, 5.2 lakh did not appear for the exams while 27.2 lakh failed.

DIFFERENCES IN BANKRUPTCY RATES ACROSS AGENCIES AND CLASSES

In grade 10, the percentage of students who failed national boards was six percent, while for state boards it was considerably higher, namely 16 percent. In grade 12, the percentage of students who failed national boards was 12 percent, while for state boards it was 18 percent.

The analysis revealed that the open school’s performance was poor in both class 10 and class 12. The highest number of students failing in class 10 was in the Madhya Pradesh board, followed by Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In class 12, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of students failing, followed by Madhya Pradesh.

“The overall performance of students in 2023 has declined compared to the previous year. This could be due to a larger syllabus for exams,” the source added.

GENDER AND REGIONAL PERFORMANCE TRENDS

More girls than boys appeared in the Class 10 and 12 examinations in government schools. This trend could indicate a gender bias in parental expenditure on education, the source said. However, girls outperformed boys in all management categories. In Class 12, 87.5 percent of girls in private schools passed the examination, compared to 75.6 percent of boys. This results in over nine lakh boys failing the examination, compared to four lakh girls.

A total of 59 examination boards, including three national boards and 56 state boards, announced their results.

The exams covered a wide range of curricula, with some boards following non-NCERT syllabi. Despite the large number of students, the pass percentages show a worrying trend.

In class 10, 84.9 percent of the approximately 18.5 million students who appeared for the final examinations passed. However, approximately 33.5 lakh students do not proceed to class 11 due to failing or non-appearance, leading to lower retention rates.

In grade 12, about 82.5 percent of the 15.5 million students who took the exams passed. The highest pass rates were observed among students studying Nepali and Manipuri, each with a pass rate of 85.3 percent.

A substantial number of 32.4 lakh students did not complete their education in class 12 either due to failure or non-appearance. A total of over 55 lakh candidates failed to qualify for the class 10 and 12 examinations in 2023.

Furthermore, no significant difference in performance was observed between students taking exams in different languages ​​for both grades 10 and 12. However, there are clear differences between regions and school board types, underscoring the need for standardization.

In class 10, remarkable performance was recorded among students appearing for examinations in regional languages ​​such as Marathi, Punjabi and Malayalam, each with a pass percentage of 87.4 per cent. Besides Hindi and English, Bengali and Marathi, each with over 10 lakh students, also show a higher pass percentage than English and Hindi.

Science remains the most popular field, chosen by 43 percent of students, mostly boys. This is followed by art, chosen by 39 percent of students, with a higher percentage of girls. Furthermore, the pass rate for girls is slightly higher than that of boys in science and significantly higher in art.

(With PTI inputs)