Record 32 percent failure, worst SSC result in 10 years

A record number of students failed the 2025 Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations. This time, out of 19 lakh 4 thousand 86 examinees across the country, only 13 lakh 3 thousand 426 passed. That is, 6 lakh 660 failed, which is 31.55 percent of the total examinees. The pass rate stands at 68.45 percent, which is the lowest in the last decade. Last year, the rate was 83.04 percent. 1 lakh 39 thousand 32 got GPA-5, which is 43 thousand 97 less than the previous year. The results were announced by Professor Dr. Khandokar Ehsanul Kabir, President of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee and Chairman of the Dhaka Education Board, at a press conference held in the meeting room of the Education Board yesterday. He said that no extra marks or irregularities were resorted to in the results. He also mentioned that there was no tendency to increase the marks this time like in previous years.

The board-wise differences are clear in the analysis of the results. Rajshahi Board has achieved the best results, where the pass rate is 77.63 percent. This is followed by Jessore Board with 73.69, Chittagong Board with 72.07, Technical Board with 73.63, Sylhet Board with 68.57, Madrasa Board with 68.09, Dhaka Board with 67.51, Dinajpur Board with 67.03, Comilla Board with 63.6 and Barisal Board with the worst results, where the pass rate is only 56.38 percent. Mymensingh Board also has an alarmingly low pass rate of 58.22 percent. 427 students participated in the exam from foreign centers, out of which 373 passed, which is 87.35 percent.

This year, the number of educational institutions that passed 100% has decreased to 984, from 2968 last year. That is, 1,984 institutions have lost the achievement of 100% pass rate. What is even more alarming is that there are 134 institutions where not a single student could pass. Last year, the number of such institutions was 51. The progress of female students is clear in the results. Among the students who passed, the number of female students is 676,445, about 50,000 more than the boys. Girls are also ahead in terms of obtaining GPA 5—girls obtained 73,616 and boys 65,416.

However, despite these disappointing results, some institutions have done comparatively well. For example, 826 students passed from Rajuk Uttara Model School and College, of which 733 got GPA 5. 2,061 passed from Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, and 1,326 got GPA 5. 1,549 students got GPA 5 from Motijheel Ideal School and College. Narsingdi's Qadir Mollah High School and Homes and Chittagong's Kagtia Eshatul Uloom Kamil Madrasa also passed with 100%.

There is an opportunity for re-examination for the candidates. Applications can be made from Teletalk Mobile via SMS in the prescribed format from July 11 to July 17. According to education analysts, this year's results have made it clear that the culture of improving results by giving extra marks has decreased, and the actual assessment of students has been reflected. However, with such a large number of failures, there is a need for new thinking at the national level—especially towards improving teacher recruitment, curriculum quality, and the monitoring system of educational institutions.