Girls lead as SSC pass rate drops

While the SSC and equivalent examinations mark a crucial milestone in students’ education journey in Bangladesh, shaping their transition to higher studies, this year’s results presented a mixed picture.

Girls outperformed boys across all 11 education boards, but the overall pass rate fell to 62.25 per cent, the lowest in five years, with the number of GPA-5 achievers also declining.

The results were published simultaneously at 10am on Monday (10 August), with students checking their results through education board websites and other designated platforms.

The overall pass rate across the nine general education boards, the Madrasah Education Board and the Technical Education Board stood at 62.25 per cent, down from 68.45 per cent last year. A total of 116,676 students secured GPA-5, compared with 139,032 in 2025.

Education Minister Dr A N M Ehsanul Haque Milon formally inaugurated the results publication process at a press conference at the Ministry of Education.

Chairmen of the country’s education boards handed over their respective results to the minister.

Prof Syed Akhtaruzzaman, chairman of the Dhaka Education Board and president of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee, presented the detailed results.

Prime Minister’s Education Adviser Dr Mahdi Amin, Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary Md Abdul Khaleque and education board chairmen were also present.

Girls lead across all boards
Female students recorded a clear advantage over male students in both pass rates and GPA-5 results.

Of the 116,676 students who achieved GPA-5 this year, 63,896 were girls and 52,780 were boys.

Across all 11 boards, the average pass rate for girls was 66.68 per cent, compared with 57.86 per cent for boys — an 8.82 percentage-point gap.

Under the nine general education boards, girls recorded a pass rate of 67.91 per cent, against 59.73 per cent for boys.

The gap was also evident in the Madrasah Board, where the pass rate was 59.89 per cent for girls and 51.64 per cent for boys, and in the Technical Board, where girls recorded 67.84 per cent, compared with 51.14 per cent for boys.

Board-wise performance
The Dhaka Education Board recorded the highest pass rate among the general boards at 71.63 per cent, with 33,253 students securing GPA-5.

The Jashore Board recorded a 66.27 per cent pass rate and 11,478 GPA-5s, while the Cumilla Board posted 65.42 per cent and 9,814 GPA-5s.

Rajshahi recorded a 63.67 per cent pass rate, with 22,327 GPA-5 achievers. Chattogram recorded 59.48 per cent, with 9,398 GPA-5s.

The pass rates were 60.35 per cent in Barishal, 58.33 per cent in Sylhet, 58.05 per cent in Dinajpur and 57.39 per cent in Mymensingh.

The Madrasah Board recorded a pass rate of 55.49 per cent, with 6,716 GPA-5s, while the Technical Education Board recorded 58.20 per cent, with 3,951 GPA-5s.

Science students lead
Among the general education boards, science students recorded the highest success rate, with 457,188 students passing at a rate of 80.64 per cent.

A total of 311,174 humanities students passed, producing a pass rate of 48.74 per cent. In the business studies group, 141,248 students passed, with a pass rate of 64.29 per cent.

Lowest five-year pass rate
This year’s overall pass rate of 62.25 per cent was the lowest in the past five years. The rate was 87.44 per cent in 2022, 80.39 per cent in 2023, 83.04 per cent in 2024 and 68.45 per cent in 2025.

The number of GPA-5 achievers also fell to a five-year low, declining from 139,032 last year to 116,676 this year.

A total of 18,57,344 students submitted examination forms. Of them, 11,38,877 passed across the 11 boards, including 5,30,938 boys and 6,07,939 girls.

312 institutions record no passes
The results also revealed significant disparities among educational institutions.

No student passed from 312 institutions nationwide — 57 under the nine general boards, 226 under the Madrasah Board and 29 under the Technical Board.

No candidate also passed at one overseas examination centre.

Minister defends marking
Responding to questions about whether teachers had been overly strict in awarding marks, Education Minister Milon said, “One can sing wholeheartedly, but one cannot award marks wholeheartedly.”

He also described this year’s results as “excellent”.

Despite the overall decline in the pass rate and GPA-5 numbers, the strong performance of female students highlights the sustained efforts and achievements of girls across Bangladesh’s secondary education system