HSC Havoc: Historic Low Highlights Gender Gains; Science Stream Ahead

The pass rate for this year’s Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations has dropped to 58.83 percent, marking the lowest in at least two decades. Among the students crossing the 12th-grade threshold into university education, 69,097 secured a GPA-5, representing only 9.5 percent of all successful candidates. In contrast, last year’s 2024 exams saw a pass rate of 77.78 percent, with 145,911 students achieving GPA-5.

According to the officially published results, 1,047,242 students from the science stream of nine general education boards appeared this year. Among them, 128,100 were male and 134,059 female students. Successful candidates numbered 99,296 boys and 107,077 girls, reflecting pass rates of 77.51 percent and 79.87 percent respectively—the highest among all streams.

In total, 262,159 students passed in the science stream, with a success ratio of 77 percent for boys and 79 percent for girls. Female students thus outperformed male counterparts by two percentage points.

The arts stream recorded the lowest success rate. Out of 606,282 examinees—262,582 boys and 343,700 girls—only 106,463 boys and 185,949 girls passed, yielding pass rates of 40.54 percent and 54.10 percent respectively.

In the business education stream, 178,801 students appeared, including 98,405 boys and 80,396 girls. Among them, 49,407 boys and 49,964 girls passed, translating to 50.22 percent pass for boys and 62.15 percent for girls.

The results were officially announced at 10:00 am on Wednesday, October 16, by Professor Dr. Khandakar Ehsanul Kabir, Chairman of the Dhaka Education Board and President of the Bangladesh Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee.

This year’s HSC and equivalent exams were held from June 26 to August 19, with some postponed exams conducted shortly after the main schedule. As per protocol, results are released within 60 days of the written examinations’ conclusion.

A total of 1,251,111 students registered under 11 education boards, including 618,015 boys and 633,096 girls. Approximately 27,000 students did not sit for the exams, leaving around 1.235 million examinees awaiting results.

Board-wise participation included: Dhaka (291,241), Rajshahi (133,242), Comilla (101,750), Jessore (116,317), Chattogram (135), Barishal (61,025), Sylhet (69,683), Dinajpur (103,832), and Mymensingh (78,273). Madrasa (Alim) board had 86,102 examinees, and the Technical Education Board recorded 109,611.

Pass rates by board were: Dhaka 64.62%, Rajshahi 59.40%, Comilla 48.86%, Jessore 50.20%, Chattogram 52.57%, Barishal 62.57%, Sylhet 51.86%, Dinajpur 57.49%, Mymensingh 51.54%, Madrasa Board 75.61%, and Technical Board 62.97%.

Female students consistently outperformed male students across all boards, both in total passes and GPA-5 achievements. Overall, 726,960 students passed, including 333,864 boys and 393,096 girls. The pass rate was 54.60 percent for boys and 62.97 percent for girls. GPA-5 was achieved by 32,053 boys and 37,044 girls, totaling 69,097.

Institutions recording zero pass totaled 202 this year, a sharp decline from 1,388 last year.

Board-wise GPA-5 achievers included: Dhaka 26,063, Rajshahi 10,137, Comilla 2,707, Jessore 5,995, Chattogram 6,097, Barishal 1,674, Sylhet 1,602, Dinajpur 6,260, Mymensingh 2,684, Madrasa Board 4,268, and Technical Board 1,610.

This year’s results underscore both a historic decline in overall pass rates and the continued academic dominance of female students.