65 Lakh Students Fail Class 10 and 12 Exams in 2023; State Boards Record Higher Failure Rates

More than 65 lakh students did not pass class 10 and 12 board exams last year, with state boards showing a higher failure rate than national boards, according to Ministry of Education sources. An analysis of results from 59 school boards, including 56 state boards and three national boards, revealed that more girls appeared for class 12 exams in government-managed schools, but the trend was reversed in private and government-aided schools.

Gender Disparities in Exam Participation

Despite fewer girls appearing in private schools, they outperformed boys across all types of school management. The pass percentage for girls was more than six percentage points higher than for boys. In class 12, 87.5% of girls in private schools passed the exam compared to 75.6% of boys. This resulted in nearly nine lakh boys failing compared to four lakh girls.

Failure Rates and Retention Issues

Around 33.5 lakh class 10 students did not advance to the next grade. Of these, 5.5 lakh did not appear for the exams, while 28 lakh failed. Similarly, about 32.4 lakh class 12 students did not complete their grade; 5.2 lakh did not appear, and 27.2 lakh failed. This contributes to a low retention rate and Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the higher secondary level.

The failure rate for class 10 students in national boards was six per cent, while state boards had a much higher rate at 16 per cent. For class 12, the failure rate was 12 per cent for national boards and 18 per cent for state boards. The analysis also showed poor performance in open schools for both classes.

Regional Performance Variations

The highest number of student failures in class 10 was reported from the Madhya Pradesh board, followed by Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (UP). In class 12, UP had the highest student failure rate, followed by Madhya Pradesh. Overall student performance declined in comparison to the previous year, possibly due to a larger syllabus.

A total of 59 examination boards reported their results, covering a broad range of curricula with some following non-NCERT syllabi. Despite the large number of students, pass percentages indicate a troubling trend. In class 10, out of approximately 18.5 million students who appeared for the exams, only 84.9 per cent passed.

Language and Medium-Wise Performance

In class 12, about 82.5 per cent of the 15.5 million students who appeared passed. The highest pass rates were among students taking exams in Nepali and Manipuri languages at 85.3 per cent each. Notable performance was seen among students taking exams in regional languages such as Marathi (87.4%), Punjabi (87.4%), and Malayalam (87.4%) in class 10.

Medium-wise, apart from Hindi and English, Bengali and Marathi had over ten lakh students each with better pass percentages than English and Hindi. Science emerged as the most popular stream with 43 per cent of students choosing it, predominantly boys, followed by arts chosen by 39 per cent of students with a higher representation of girls.

Impact on Higher Secondary Education

Cumulatively, over 55 lakh candidates failed to qualify for the class 10 and 12 boards in 2023. No significant difference was observed between students taking exams in different languages for both classes; however, disparities between regions and types of boards highlight a need for standardisation.

Overall performance declined compared to previous years due to a larger syllabus for examinations, according to sources. This decline affects retention rates and Gross Enrolment Ratio at higher secondary levels significantly.

Girls' dominance in pass performance across all management types may reflect gender bias in educational spending by parents, as noted by sources. Despite this bias, girls continue to outperform boys by a significant margin across various metrics.

The data highlights critical issues within India's education system that need addressing to improve overall student outcomes and retention rates at higher secondary levels.