More than four out of every ten students who sat this year’s Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations under the Chittagong Education Board have failed.
The board’s overall pass rate has plunged to a five-year low of 59.48 per cent, heavily driven by a near-collapse in the Humanities stream, where more than 60 per cent of candidates failed to clear their exams.
Only 38.79 per cent of Humanities examinees passed.
The official results of this year’s SSC and equivalent examinations, which commenced on 21 April, were published on Monday at 10am.
Out of 130,682 examinees who sat for the exams, 77,453 passed while 52,756 were unsuccessful. A total of 9,398 students obtained a GPA-5.
This year’s overall pass rate represents a steep fall of 12.59 percentage points compared to last year’s 72.07 per cent.
This decline continues a downward trend from previous years, with the pass rate standing at 82.80 per cent in 2024, 78.29 per cent in 2023, and 87.53 per cent in 2022. A total of 1,218 schools fielded candidates across 218 examination centres this year.
Pass rates dropped across all three academic streams, with Humanities suffering the most devastating slump. The pass rate for Humanities fell to 38.79 per cent from last year’s 55.02 per cent, meaning more than 60 per cent of its examinees failed to pass.
In the Science department, the pass rate dropped to 84.41 per cent from 92.57 per cent last year, while the Business Studies stream saw its pass rate slide to 60.12 per cent from 73.54 per cent previously.
Female candidates outshine boys
Despite the overall downturn, female candidates continued to outperform male candidates across major academic indicators.
A total of 74,001 female students took the exams, recording a pass rate of 60.03 per cent and securing 5,275 GPA-5s.
In contrast, 56,218 male candidates sat the exams, with 58.76 per cent passing and 4,093 obtaining a GPA-5 (though a separate section of the board’s report lists the number of GPA-5 boys as 4,123).
This places female students 1.27 percentage points ahead of male candidates in terms of overall pass rates.
Hilly districts record poor performance
The performance of districts under the board also painted a grim picture, particularly in the hilly areas. Khagrachhari recorded the worst pass rate at a dismal 34.99 per cent, representing a massive 25.78 percentage point fall from last year’s 60.77 per cent.
Other hill tracts districts also struggled, with Rangamati registering a 41.17 per cent pass rate and Bandarban recording 47.88 per cent. Cox’s Bazar fared slightly better with a pass rate of 57.09 per cent.
In Chittagong district, the overall pass rate stood at 64 per cent including the metropolitan area. However, excluding the metropolitan zone, the district’s pass rate drops to 57.13 per cent, compared to a much higher 74.33 per cent within the Chittagong metropolitan area.
Flailing institutional indicators
The decline was also reflected at the institutional level. The number of schools with a flawless 100 per cent pass rate fell to 21, compared to 33 last year and 71 in 2022.
Conversely, the number of schools with a zero per cent pass rate (where not a single student passed) rose to eight, a notable increase from just one last year and none in the preceding three years.
Ten schools registered a pass rate of 10 per cent or lower (up from one last year), while the number of schools with a pass rate between 10 and 50 per cent jumped significantly to 438 from last year’s 153.
Single-subject failures and expulsions
An analysis of the unsuccessful candidates showed that a majority, 28,771 students, failed in only a single subject, representing 22.09 per cent of all examinees who sat for the exams.
Academic discipline also saw a slight decline, with 10 students expelled this year, compared to one last year, none in 2024, ten in 2023, and five in 2022.
Candidates who are dissatisfied with their results can apply for a rescrutiny of their examination scripts. The application process begins on Tuesday and will remain open until 17 August.
