The HSC and equivalent examinations have recorded a decline in pass rates for the second consecutive year, with 594,293 students failing this year — 85,592 more than last year.
Education Minister Dr ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon announced the results at a press conference at the Secretariat on Saturday.
According to the results published by the education boards, a total of 1,240,978 candidates sat for the examinations under the nine general education boards, the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board and the Bangladesh Technical Education Board. Of them, 646,685 passed, resulting in an overall pass rate of 52.12%. The remaining 594,293 candidates failed in one or more subjects.
Last year, 1,235,661 candidates took the HSC and equivalent examinations. Of them, 726,960 passed, with a pass rate of 58.83%, while 508,701 failed. The pass rate has therefore fallen by 6.71 percentage points this year.
In 2024, the overall pass rate stood at 77.78%, marking a decline of 25.66 percentage points over the past two years.
The continued decline has renewed questions about the quality of education, students’ preparation and the standard of teaching at educational institutions.
Following the poor results in 2025, education sector stakeholders cited several possible contributing factors, including an unstable academic environment, teacher shortages, concerns over teachers’ salaries and allowances, inadequate investment in education and students’ academic weaknesses.
With the trend continuing this year, questions have emerged about the effectiveness of measures taken to address the problems identified last year.
The pass rate among female students was 56.31%, compared with 47.75% among male students. Across all boards, 66,371 more female students passed than male students.
Institutional results also showed little improvement. No students passed from 204 institutions this year, compared with 202 last year. Meanwhile, all students passed at 202 institutions.
The number of students securing a GPA-5 has also declined over the past two years. A total of 145,911 students achieved the highest grade in 2024, falling to 69,097 in 2025 and 40,084 this year.
This represents a decrease of 105,827 GPA-5 achievers between 2024 and 2026.