Over 65 lakh students did not pass class 10 and 12 board exams across the country last year with the failure rate being higher in state boards than the central board, according to Ministry of Education (MoE) officials. An analysis of class 10 and 12 results of 59 school boards, including 56 state boards and three national boards, revealed that more girls appeared in class 12 exam from government-managed schools but it is opposite in private schools and government-aided schools. "Around 33.5 lakh students of class 10 are not reaching 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," a senior MoE official said. Similarly, around 32.4 lakh class 12 students did not complete the grade. While 5.2 lakh did not appear, 27.2 lakh failed. In class 10, the student failure rate in central board stood at 6 per cent while that of state boards was much higher at 16 per cent. In class 12, the failure rate at central board is 12 per cent while that of state boards is 18 per cent. The ministry officials noted that the open school performance was poor in both the classes. The highest number of student failure in class 10 was in Madhya Pradesh board followed by Bihar and UP. 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 official said. 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. However, girls dominates in pass performance across government, aided and private schools," the official said.
