Female students have continued to outperform their male counterparts in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent exams, securing both higher pass rates and grade point averages (GPA).
The girls have now secured both higher pass rates and GPAs than the boys in the SSC examinations for five consecutive years.
In the wake of the SSC results announcement, educationists have urged the authorities to improve access to higher education for both female and male meritorious students.
They pointed out that financial inability is the main reason many boys do not pursue higher education, while child marriage, pressure to start families, and other social and religious barriers continue to hinder girls.
According to sources at the Ministry of Education, a total of 2,041,450 students -- 1,031,647 female and 1,009,803 male -- appeared at this year's exams. Among them, 1,641,140 students passed the exams, including 8,44,736 girls and 7,96,404 boys.
The pass rate for female students is 81.88% while it is 78.87 % among boys -- a gap of 3.01%.
A total of 98,614 girls secured the highest score of GPA-5, while 84,964 boys did the same.
The pass rate for female students was 87.71% as compared to 87.16% for male students in 2022. Altogether 148,446 girls secured GPA-5 last year, as compared to 121,156 boys.
Barisal board ahead in pass rate, Sylhet behind
The Barisal Education Board is leading in terms of pass rate with 90.18%, while the Sylhet Education Board continued to record the lowest pass rate of 76.06% this year.
The pass rate under the Dhaka Board was 77.55%, it was 87.89% under Rajshahi Board, 78.42% under Comilla Board, 76.87% under Dinajpur Board, 78.29% under Chittagong Board, 85.49% under Mymensingh Board, and 86.17% under the Jessore Board.
The Technical Education Board's pass rate was 80.39%, as compared to 74.70% under the Madrasa Board.
No students passed from 48 educational institutions across the country, as compared to 50 last year. The pass rate at 2,354 institutions was 100% this year, in contrast to the 2,975 institutions that achieved the feat last year.
This year's SSC and equivalent exams commenced across the country on April 30 and ended on May 28.
SSC pass rate back to pre-pandemic levels
The SSC and equivalent exam pass rate was 80.35% in 2017, 77.77% in 2018, 82.20% in 2019, 82.87 in 2020, 93.58% in 2021, 87.44% in 2022, and 80.39% in 2023.
When asked why the pass rate had declined compared to the pandemic years, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni pointed out that students were tested on a shortened syllabus with fewer subjects during the lockdowns.
“This year's exams tested all subjects, like before the pandemic. So, it has had an impact on the exam results. This year's pass rates are more in line with the pre-pandemic rates,” she said.
The minister further said all educational activities of this year would be completed by November 30 as the parliamentary election will be held shortly afterwards.
