This year’s HSC, Alim and equivalent examination results have slumped.
Across the 11 education boards, 646,685 candidates passed. The pass rate stands at 52.12 percent, the lowest in 22 years.
In English and information and communication technology (ICT) alone, 382,021 candidates failed. In all, nearly 600,000 candidates failed this year.
Education experts say the syllabus put many candidates under mental strain. Answer scripts were also marked strictly by the rules rather than leniently. Political and social unrest on campuses also turned many students away from college, which clearly showed in this year’s results.
The 2026 Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examination results were published on Saturday. The average pass rate across the 11 boards is 52.12 percent. Nearly half of those who sat the exams, 47.88 percent, failed.
According to the published results, 1,240,798 candidates sat the exams under the 11 boards this year. Of them, 646,685 passed and 594,113 failed.
Of those, 382,021 failed in English and ICT alone: 243,528 in English and 138,493 in ICT.
The education minister said candidates who failed will be given a chance to sit the exams again within one to two months.
It is not only the number of failures that has risen. The number of students with GPA-5 has also fallen, by 42 percent compared with 2025, and the pass rate is down 6.71 percentage points.
This year the pass rate across the 11 boards, including madrasa, is 52.12 percent, against 58.83 percent last year, a fall of 6.71 percentage points in one year.
A total of 40,084 candidates across the 11 boards achieved GPA-5, against 69,097 last year. That is 29,013 fewer, or about 42 percent.
Experts say this year’s exams covered the full syllabus. Candidates needed extra time and effort to prepare, and the size of the syllabus put many of them under mental strain. All boards also used a common, standard question paper instead of the usual practice, which clearly affected results. Answer scripts were marked strictly by the rules, without blanket extra marks, and exam centres were closely supervised and disciplined. Experts believe these are the main reasons the pass rate fell this year.
They also believe the overall environment at educational institutions may have played a large part. These students enrolled in college right after the 2024 mass uprising. The political and social unrest at institutions across the country at the time turned many away from college. Many lost the will to attend classes regularly and concentrate on their studies, and this clearly showed in this year’s results.
Dhaka board pass rate down
In the Dhaka board, 61.80 percent of candidates passed, against 64.62 percent last year. Nationally, the HSC and equivalent pass rate this year is 52.12 percent, with 646,685 passing and 40,084 achieving GPA-5. Last year, 69,097 candidates achieved GPA-5 in the HSC and equivalent exams, and the overall pass rate was 58.83 percent.
Chattogram board: lowest pass rate in 15 years
The Chattogram education board recorded its lowest pass rate in 15 years, at 52.7 percent. This year 2,929 candidates achieved GPA-5 there, 3,201 fewer than last year.
Rajshahi board pass rate down
The Rajshahi board’s HSC pass rate fell to 45.06 percent this year, its lowest since the automatic passes of 2020 during the Covid pandemic. According to the published results, 137,356 of the board’s 141,936 registered candidates sat the exams, and 61,894 passed. Controller of examinations Professor Iffat Jerin said students received the marks their answers earned and no one was given extra marks, which affected the overall results.
Barishal: every student failed at 11 institutions
The Barishal education board’s pass rate is 44.84 percent, with 950 students achieving GPA-5. Both the pass rate and the number of GPA-5s are down on last year. No student passed at 11 of the board’s institutions. The results were announced by the board’s controller of examinations, Professor Sharif Morshed Reza, who said they were published after proper review and assessment and reflect students’ true merit.
Most failures in humanities
The average pass rate across the 11 boards is 52.12 percent. The humanities group had the largest number of failures. According to data from the nine general education boards, 90,664 of 258,932 male humanities candidates passed, and 165,647 of 348,803 female candidates passed. The overall humanities pass rate is 42.17 percent.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report