This Year’s SSC Results Should Serve as a Wake-up Call

The result of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations was published three weeks later than it was supposed to be published. This delayed publication of the result may have triggered questions in the minds of the examinees and others concerned as to why it was postponed. Earlier, students, teachers, guardians and the education administration were given a wrong signal about the importance of proper assessment at the national level. As a result, many students became less serious about their studies and wrote poorly prepared answers in their examination scripts. This was further encouraged by the practice of awarding good marks without properly evaluating the scripts. Consequently, students were left without a clear understanding of what proper assessment meant or how they should write their answers. They, therefore, failed to develop a sound understanding of their subjects and topics.
This was a harmful practice that weakened the country’s entire education system. The nation must now come out of this situation. We welcome the current government’s efforts to restore the quality of education. Of course, improving education requires a range of measures. But ensuring genuine assessment of scripts in public examinations must be one of the most important steps. It can encourage students to study seriously and remind teachers, educational institutions and guardians that students’ learning and assessment should be taken seriously rather than treated as a mere formality.
This year (2026) 1,829,485 candidates appeared in the SSC and equivalent examinations. Out of them, 1,138,897 passed and 690,608 failed. Quite a big number of students have failed, giving a big signal to all concerned.  The pass rate fell by 6.25 percentage points from 68.45% in 2025. The number of GPA-5 achievers has also dropped by 22,356, from 139,032 last year to 116,676 this year. The last time the national pass rate was lower was in 2007, when 58.36% of candidates passed. That means, after 19 years, the nation has seen the lowest pass percentage in this serious public examination. After standing at 72.18% in 2008, the pass rate crossed 80% in 2011 and remained above that level for seven consecutive years. It peaked at 91.34% in 2014. The Covid-affected examination of 2021, conducted with fewer subjects and a shortened syllabus, produced an exceptional 93.58% pass rate. Since then, the trajectory has largely been downward, 87.44% in 2022 and 80.39% in 2023, before a temporary rise to 83.04% in 2024. With the returning of full marks and the full syllabus, the rate plunged to 68.45% in 2025 and has now fallen further to 62.25%.
The results have exposed longstanding weaknesses in English and mathematics, particularly among humanities students. The way English is taught and assessed has long encouraged memorisation rather than genuine language development. The SSC English textbook contains 71 lessons under 16 units, but students often prepare only four or five lessons because seen-passage questions are repeatedly set from these limited areas. This leaves little scope for students to develop independent thinking or express themselves using their own vocabulary.
The same problem exists in the second paper. Students tend to memorise a few familiar paragraphs, essays, applications and other items. Even grammar questions are often repeated, with familiar and predictable items appearing in board examinations. As a result, students who practise questions from previous years can often anticipate what will appear in the examination. Such a system cannot develop students’ English skills or competence. For years, many students effectively passed despite these weaknesses because of lenient marking. This year, however, stricter assessment has exposed the problem.
Mathematics has also revealed a similar weakness. Since last year, questions have included more basic and concept-based elements, with which many students and teachers were unfamiliar. The changed approach appears to have caught them off guard, contributing to the poor results.
What is equally concerning is the lack of scientific and convincing analysis by the education authorities. Neither the education boards nor the ministry appears to have a dedicated research and analytical unit capable of identifying the reasons behind such fluctuations in results. I have long advocated through my writings for establishing such a mechanism.
The 312 institutions where not a single student passed cannot simply be brushed aside. Each points to something that is not working: either a shortage of qualified teachers, inadequate infrastructure, weak oversight or socioeconomic difficulties affecting students. The education minister’s promise to take measures must therefore be followed by concrete action: school-by-school assessments, stronger teacher development programmes, closer monitoring by education boards and targeted resources for the worst-affected areas.
Finally, we welcome the present government’s move to do away with the practice of awarding inflated marks to the students. Such lenient marking undermines the most important purpose of examinations: genuine assessment. The previous practice that existed during the time of the past autocratic regime seriously weakened the education system and gave students an undue advantage instead of helping them identify their weaknesses. We cannot afford to continue that tradition. The new government’s decision to restore the integrity of assessment has revealed an unexpected reality and, hopefully, will serve as a much-needed wake-up call for everyone concerned.
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The writer is President, English Teachers’ Association of Bangladesh (ETAB). He can be reached at [email protected]