The results of this year’s Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations have shown a stark decline, with only 68.45% of candidates passing – the lowest pass rate in the past 17 years.

This marks a dramatic drop of 14.59 percentage points compared to last year’s 83.04%.

Additionally, the number of students securing the highest Grade Point Average (GPA-5) has also fallen significantly, from 182,129 in 2024 to 139,032 this year – a reduction of over 43,000.

A review of past SSC performance shows that the pass rate was 58.36% in 2007. However, starting in 2008, the success rate began to rise, reaching 72.18% that year and 70.89% in 2009.

The results were formally announced on Thursday at 2pm by Prof Khondoker Ehsanul Kabir, chairman of the Dhaka Education Board and president of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee, at the board’s headquarters in the capital.

A total of 1,928,970 students registered for the exams, which were held between 10 April and 13 May. Among them, 967,739 were female and 961,231 were male.

This year’s examinations were the first public assessments held since the recent student-led movement that swept through the country.

In a notable break from tradition, no formal handover ceremony took place. Instead, the nine general education boards, along with the Technical and Madrasah Education Boards, published the results independently.

Over 600,000 students fail

A staggering 600,660 students failed to pass the SSC and equivalent exams this year. Of those, 324,716 were male students, while 275,944 were female, reflecting a reversal in gender performance trends of earlier years.

Girls outperform boys across boards

Female students once again outshone their male counterparts. The overall pass rate among girls stood at 71.03%, compared to 65.88% for boys – a gap of over 5 percentage points. Girls also led in GPA-5 achievers, with 73,616 top scorers versus 65,416 boys. 

The gender disparity was most pronounced in the humanities stream, where girls achieved a 58.64% pass rate compared to just 47.26% for boys. Girls also held a narrow lead in science (86.75% vs 84.59%) and a near 10-point advantage in commerce (71.62% vs 61.94%).

Rajshahi Board tops, Barishal at the bottom

Regionally, Rajshahi Education Board recorded the highest pass rate at 77.63%, followed by Jashore (73.69%) and Chattogram (72.07%). Barishal, on the other hand, fared the worst, with just 56.38% of its students passing. Mymensingh was the second lowest at 58.22%.

Dhaka Board, which typically sees strong performance, registered a pass rate of 67.51% – slightly below the national average.

Fewer schools achieve 100% pass rate

The number of schools achieving a 100% pass rate dropped dramatically this year. Only 984 institutions saw all their students pass, compared to 2,968 last year.

Meanwhile, 134 institutions recorded a 0% pass rate – more than double last year’s figure of 51.

Education ministry reflects on results

Speaking earlier, Education Adviser CR Abrar noted that the results had been published swiftly, within less than two months of the exams, and without unnecessary ceremonial procedures.

While the reasons behind the steep drop in performance have not yet been formally analysed, experts suggest the academic disruptions in recent years and socio-political unrest may have contributed to the declining results.

Result re-verification till 17 July

SSC candidates unsatisfied with their results can apply for the re-examination process till 17 July.

According to a press release, candidates can apply for re-examination of the results by Teletalk SIM, the prescribed application fee for each subject would be Tk150.

To apply for re-examination of the results, the candidate must first go to the message option of the mobile phone and type RSC <space> the first three letters of the board name <space> roll number <space> subject code and send it to 16222. To write multiple subject codes, separate them with a comma (,) like 101,102.

Earlier, the results of this year's SSC and equivalent examinations were published on Thursday at 2:00 pm. This year, the average pass rate in 11 education boards is 68.45 percent. Around 139,032 students got GPA-5. However, both the pass rate and GPA-5 have decreased from last year.