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| Students celebrating at a college |
The downward trend of last year continues in this year's Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) results. A review of the past 22 years shows that this is the lowest pass rate in the HSC exams under the nine general education boards. 51.62 percent of examinees passed. Last year the rate was 57.12 percent, so in one year the pass rate has fallen by a further 5.5 percentage points or so.
It is not only the pass rate. The number of examinees achieving GPA-5, the top mark of the results, has also dropped. This year 35,948 students got GPA-5 across the nine general education boards. Last year the figure was 63,219, a fall of more than 27,000 in one year.
Students' weakness in English has raised particular concern in this year's results. Except for the Dhaka Education Board, the pass rate in this subject is low in nearly every board. Those concerned believe that the poor results in this compulsory subject may be one of the main reasons for the fall in the overall pass rate.
The results published today show a sharp decline in the pass rate over the past three years. In 2024 the pass rate across the nine general education boards was 75.56 percent. In 2025 it fell to 57.12 percent, a drop of nearly 18 percentage points in one year. This year it has fallen further to 51.62 percent.
Students' preparation, teaching at educational institutions, the nature of the question papers, and the method of evaluating answer scripts all deserve review as reasons for this year's poor results. However, the failure of so many students in a compulsory subject like English needs separate analysis, although the causes cannot be determined from result statistics alone. Education experts say the real causes can be identified only by reviewing subject-wise results, whether the questions were difficult, students' preparation, and the way answer scripts were evaluated.
Caption: Students taking selfies after the HSC results were published. Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, 31 October 2026. Photo: Shubhra Kanti Das
As announced earlier, the results of this year's HSC and equivalent examinations were to be published on 29 October. The date was later changed to 31 October. This year's HSC and equivalent exams began on 2 July. Regular and irregular examinees together totaled 1,048,530 in the nine general education boards, of whom 541,249 passed.
In the results, the pass rate of female students is higher than that of male students. The female pass rate is 55.45 percent, while the male pass rate is 47.14 percent. However, male students are slightly ahead in getting GPA-5: 18,155 male students and 17,793 female students. So although female students lead in pass rate, male students are somewhat higher in number among those achieving the top result.
Pull quote: Students' weakness in English has raised particular concern in this year's results. Those concerned believe that the poor results in this compulsory subject may be one of the main reasons for the fall in the overall pass rate.
Big drop in pass rate last year
In 2005 the BNP government was in power. This year too, the BNP is in power. A review of the 22 years of results from 2005 to this year shows that, among recent years, the biggest drop in the pass rate occurred last year. In 2024 the average HSC pass rate under the nine general education boards was 75.56 percent. In 2025 it fell to 57.12 percent. Last year's pass rate was the lowest since 2005. This year it has fallen even further, to 51.62 percent.
Earlier, in 2005, the pass rate was 59.16 percent. From 2006 to 2024, the pass rate never fell below 60 percent in any year. During these years it sometimes rose and sometimes fell, but in most years it stayed between 60 and over 70 percent. In 2020, the year the coronavirus began, results were published without exams and everyone passed. The consecutive decline over the past two years is therefore seen as a major change in the recent trend of HSC results.
Weakness in English even clearer; evaluation also under discussion
Students' weakness in English has been especially noticeable in this year's results. Among the nine general education boards, no board other than Dhaka reached a 70 percent pass rate in this subject. In the Dhaka board, the pass rate in English is 73.62 percent. Dhaka board also tops the general boards in overall pass rate this year. In the other boards, the English pass rate ranges from 54 to nearly 66 percent.
Because English is a compulsory subject, the failure of many students in it has affected the overall results. But it needs to be examined whether the poor English results are due only to a lack of individual preparation by students. Regular teaching at institutions, the availability of subject teachers, the English-learning environment in classrooms, and the nature of the exam questions are all important here.
There is also discussion about whether the question papers were difficult and whether answer scripts were evaluated more strictly than before. This is because various errors and inconsistencies were alleged in the question papers for this year's HSC exams. The government even admitted errors in two questions of Physics 1st Paper, and it was decided to give full marks to all examinees for those two questions. Examinees also alleged some inconsistencies in the Chemistry and Biology question papers.
The errors were not only in setting or moderating the questions; there were also several irregularities in distributing question papers this year. In some places, regular examinees were handed question papers prepared for irregular examinees, and in others the 2nd Paper exam was held in place of the 1st Paper exam. Show-cause notices, removal from duties, and investigations have been ordered against those responsible.
In addition, holding the HSC and equivalent exams during adverse weather this year caused anger among examinees and guardians.
Those concerned with education also believe that changes in the evaluation system this year may have affected the results. However, it is not possible to say how much each of these factors contributed without specific data.
This continuous deterioration in results is not just a matter of passing or failing; it also raises questions about students' learning outcomes and the quality of the education system. Getting good results in exams is not the only purpose of education. It also matters how much students are actually learning, especially how much skill they are developing in basic subjects such as Bangla, English, and mathematics. So this year's results should be seen not merely as a fall in the pass rate, but as a warning signal for assessing the quality of education.