Pass percentage of Class IX, XI students in Delhi govt schools drops below pre-pandemic level: Data

For Class IX students, the pass percentage for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 stood at 84.72%, 87.13% and 88.49% respectively, and for Class XI students, it ranged from 97% to 99% in the three years before a drastic drop in 2022-23.

“All students who have failed in class 9th and 11th as per… Promotion Policy, students remain in the same class in which they failed. The department has no policy to remove failed students from the school”

Speaking to The Indian Express, a government school teacher, who teaches Classes VI to X, said on the condition of anonymity: “The no-detention policy also has a role to play in the drop in pass percentage when it comes to students of Class IX. Until Class VIII, students can’t be detained, but when they come to Class IX their performance determines whether they can move further up to the next class. Other than this, there is a serious problem witnessed at government schools at border areas of Delhi where students from poorer backgrounds don’t show up at schools, leading to low attendance levels.”

On the drop in Class XI’s pass percentage, the teacher quoted above pointed out that several students who come from Below Poverty Line (BPL) backgrounds drop out of schools after Class X to support their families financially.

A few Heads of Schools (HoS) have also expressed concerns about the learning gaps and the losses that happened during the pandemic era.

“There was a lot of relaxation given to the students in their assessments during the pandemic years. The loss of touch and practice of coming to school everyday has resulted in huge learning gaps, as a result of which the pass percentage of both classes IX and XI in government school students is lower compared to the pre-pandemic years,” said Ajay Kumar Choubey, Principal of Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Rouse Avenue.

Choubey said that students mostly faced challenges in passing subjects like Mathematics and English due to lack of practice after their return to school after the pandemic period.

Another HoS of a school in the North West district said, “The digital gap during Covid, when students could not access proper classes regularly and teaching was interrupted as there was no availability of devices to attend the online classes regularly, could be one of the contributing factors towards the drop in pass percentages in the year following the pandemic.”