The pass rate in this year's HSC examinations has dropped to 75.90 percent from last year's 84.31, while the number of students with a GPA-5 has halved from last year's 1,59,755.

According to board officials, the pass rate fell this year as students had to sit for exams on full syllabuses of all subjects this year, while students of Jashore and Mymensingh boards performed dismally in English.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, after receiving the results at her office yesterday morning, congratulated students with successful results, and told the others to not be upset and rather be better prepared next time.

"We're paying special attention to attracting our students to science and technology education," she said.

Education Minister Dipu Moni unveiled the detailed results at a press conference in the afternoon.

She said that 11,12,372 students sat for the HSC exams, held between August 17 and September 25 this year, and 75.90 percent of them passed.

Taking into account the Alim exams under the madrasa board and HSC vocational tests under the technical board, the combined pass rate was 78.64 percent -- a 7.31 percent drop from last year's 85.95 percent.

Meanwhile, 92,595 students under those boards combined got GPA-5 – 83,687, less than last year's 1,76,282.

Meanwhile, female students outperformed their male counterparts for the 14th straight year in HSC and equivalent exams.

The pass rate for girls was 80.57 percent, while it was 76.76 percent for boys. A total of 49,365 girls got GPA-5, compared to 43,230 boys.

About the fall in pass rate and GPA-5 holders, Dipu Moni said the comparison between this year's results and last year's is not possible as the number of subjects was higher this time.

"Exams were held in all subjects and with full marks. So, there might be a significant difference in the number GPA-5 holders, which isn't abnormal."

She said this year's results should be compared to the ones from the pre-Covid period and considering that, the results have slightly improved since then.

After the pandemic in the years 2021 and 2022, exams were held with shortened syllabuses and in fewer subjects, while no exams were held in 2020 and results were based on the examinees' previous public exams results. 

Before the pandemic in 2019, the pass rate was 71.85.

Professor Gazi Hasan Kamal, chairman of Mymensingh education board, said the poor performances in English dragged the entire pass rate down.

"The English paper questions were too difficult for the students this year."

Data shows that 25 percent students of the Mymensingh board and 23 percent of the Jashore board failed in this year's exams.

Kamal reiterated that exams with full syllabuses was a major reason for poor results.

In terms of pass rates among all nine general education boards, Jashore ranked last with 69.88 percent.

On the other hand, Dhaka had the highest number of GPA-5 achievers in HSC exams, while Barishal education board has the highest pass rate among all boards.

Barishal's pass rate was 80.65 percent, Dhaka's 79.44 percent, Rajshahi's 78.46, Cumilla's  75.39, Chattogram's 74.45, Sylhet's 71.62, Dinajpur's 74.48, and Mymensingh's was 70.44.

A total of 31,752 students secured GPA-5 under the Dhaka education board, 11,258 under the Rajshahi board, 5,655 from Cumilla board, 8,122 from Jashore board, 6,339 from Chattogram board, 3,993 from Barishal board, 1,699 from Sylhet board, 6,459 from Dinajpur board, and 3,244 from Mymensingh board.

Meanwhile, 953 institutions had a 100 percent pass rate, while the number was 1,330 last year. The number of institutions with zero percent pass rate was 42, which was 50 in 2022.