Over 65 lakh students failed to pass the class 10 and 12 board exams across the country last year, with the failure rate being higher in state boards compared to the central board, as per Ministry of Education (MoE) officials.

An analysis of class 10 and 12 results from 59 school boards, including 56 state boards and three national boards, revealed that more girls took the class 12 exams in government-managed schools. However, the opposite trend was observed in private 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, about 32.4 lakh class 12 students did not complete the grade. Out of these, 520,000 did not take the exams, and 27.2 lakh failed. For class 10, the failure rate was 6 per cent in central boards, compared to 16 per cent in state boards. In class 12, the failure rate was 12 per cent in central boards and 18 per cent in state boards.

Also Read: Punjab Police Constable Result 2024 Releasing Soon, Answer Key Released At punjabpolice.gov.in

Ministry officials observed that performance in open schools was poor for both classes. In class 10, the highest number of student failures was reported in the Madhya Pradesh board, followed by Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. For class 12, the highest failure rates were recorded in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Madhya Pradesh.

"Overall performance of students in 2023 declined in comparison with previous year. This could be due to the larger syllabus for examination," the official said.

In government schools, more girls than boys appeared for the class 10 and 12 board exams.

"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.

(With PTI Inputs)

Also Read: Krishna Janmashtami 2024: Complete List Of States Where Schools Are Open And Closed On August 26