HSC, Alim and Equivalent Exam Pass Rate Plummets to 52.12%
The results of this year’s HSC, Alim and equivalent exams have been published. The average pass rate is 52.12 percent. Last year it was 58.83 percent, so this year it is 6.71 percent lower. This is the lowest higher secondary pass rate in 22 years.
Girls lead in the pass rate, while boys got more GPA 5. Officials shared this at a press conference held yesterday in the meeting room of the Ministry of Education at the Secretariat. Education Minister Mr. A N M Ehsanul Hoque Milon opened the result publication programme.
Education Adviser Mr. Mahdi Amin was present at the event. Senior Secretary of the Secondary and Higher Education Division Mr. Abdul Khaleque and Secretary of the Technical and Madrasa Division Mr. Md. Daud Miah also attended. Chairmen and senior officials of the education boards joined them.
Education experts gave reasons for the result disaster. They say the syllabus put many students under mental pressure. The examiners were not liberal in marking and followed the rules properly. There was also political and social unrest in educational institutions, which made many students lose interest in college. They say this clearly affected the result.
Students who are unhappy with their results can apply to review their answer scripts. Online applications start today and will continue for seven days. The boards will publish the detailed rules and the fee payment process on their websites. Students who failed in two subjects will get a chance to sit exams in those subjects within a month.
According to the Ministry of Education, 1,270,583 candidates took part from 9,439 institutions under 11 boards. The exams were held at 2,697 centres across the country. The HSC and equivalent exams began in early July and ended in early August. The practical exams were to finish by mid August.
Natural disasters stopped some written exams of the Chattogram board from taking place on time. Those exams were held later, and the board’s written exams ended in early September. Among the general boards, the Dhaka board had the most candidates, with 300,393. Rajshahi had 140,830, Jashore 117,210, Dinajpur 113,479 and Chattogram 99,688.
Cumilla had 94,802 candidates, Mymensingh 73,037, Sylhet 71,711 and Barishal 58,664. The madrasa board had 92,905 candidates and the technical board had 107,964.
GPA 5 falls
More than 1,240,000 students took part this year, and 646,685 of them passed. Of these, 40,084 got GPA 5. Among them, 20,363 are boys and 19,721 are girls. Last year, 69,097 students first got GPA 5. After the review of answer scripts, the results of 3,079 more students changed to GPA 5.
This brought last year’s total to 72,176 students with GPA 5. Compared with last year’s final result, the number of students with GPA 5 has fallen sharply this year.
More boys fail
According to the published statistics, 52.25 percent of the boys failed in this year’s HSC and equivalent exams. The failure rate for girls is 43.69 percent.
Pass rate by board
As always, the madrasa board has the highest pass rate, at 61.07 percent. Rajshahi board has 45.06 percent and Cumilla board has 48.04 percent. Jashore board has 44.92 percent and Chattogram board has 52.07 percent.
Barishal board has 44.84 percent and Sylhet board has 50.90 percent. Dinajpur board has 45.98 percent and Mymensingh board has 51.44 percent. The technical education board has 49.43 percent.
Chance to sit exams after failing in two subjects
In public exams like SSC and HSC, a student who fails in one or more subjects usually has to sit the exam again after one year. The student can sit only the failed subjects, or all subjects if the student wants. But a student who fails in just one or two subjects has to wait a full year.
This makes students fall behind in their studies and adds more mental pressure. Education Minister Mr. A N M Ehsanul Hoque Milon said that 298,040 students failed in one subject this year. He said 124,865 failed in two subjects. Together, exams must be held for 422,905 students who failed in one or two subjects.
The total number of failed students this year is 594,413. The Ministry of Education plans to hold the exams for these 422,905 students within a month. The ministry is making this decision so that these students do not lose another year.
Pass rate abroad is almost 91 percent
In this year’s HSC exam, 209 students passed at the eight centres abroad. A total of 230 students took part at these centres, and 21 of them failed. The pass rate at the centres abroad is 90.87 percent.
Board wise results
The pass rate in the Dhaka board has gone down. In the Dhaka board, 61.80 percent of the students passed. Last year 64.62 percent of the students passed. The Chattogram board had its lowest pass rate in 15 years, which fell to 52.7 percent.
This year, 2,929 students in the Chattogram board got GPA 5. Last year the pass rate there was 52.57 percent. In the same period, the number of students with GPA 5 fell by 3,201.
In the Rajshahi board, the HSC pass rate has fallen to 45.06 percent. This is the lowest pass rate since the auto pass of 2020 during the Corona pandemic. This year 141,936 candidates were registered in the board, and 137,356 of them sat the exam. Of them, 61,894 passed.
In the published result of the Barishal board, the pass rate is 44.84 percent. A total of 950 students got GPA 5. Both the pass rate and the number of GPA 5 are lower than last year. Not a single student passed from 11 institutions of the board.
Most students failed in humanities
The average pass rate in the 11 education boards is 52.12 percent. This year the most students failed in the humanities group. According to data from the nine general education boards, 258,932 boys took part in humanities and 90,664 of them passed.
In the same group, 348,803 girls took part and 165,647 of them passed. Overall, the pass rate in humanities is 42.17 percent.
Why the pass rate fell
Education experts say the exams were held on the full syllabus this year. Students had to give extra time and effort to prepare. Many of them also felt mental pressure because of such a large syllabus. The exams were also held with the same standard question papers for all boards, which is unusual. Experts say this clearly affected the results.
Examiners did not give extra marks freely. They followed the rules properly when marking the answer scripts. Strict watch and discipline were also kept at the exam centres. Experts believe these are the main reasons the pass rate fell somewhat.
The overall environment of educational institutions may also have played a big part in the result disaster. These students joined college just after the mass uprising of 2024. At that time there was political and social unrest in many educational institutions. Many students lost interest in college because of this.
Many of them did not want to attend classes regularly or to focus on their studies. This clearly affected this year’s results.
Mymensingh
Our Mymensingh bureau reports that not a single student passed from 19 institutions under the Mymensingh Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board. The board has announced that it will take necessary action against these institutions.
According to the results published yesterday, 73,420 students took part in the HSC exam under the Mymensingh board this year. Of them, 36,354 passed. The pass rate is 51.44 percent. A total of 2,137 students got GPA 5.
Controller of Examinations Mr. Md. Shahadat Ullah shared this information at a press conference. According to the board’s statistics, students from 315 institutions took part in the exam this year. Not a single student passed from 19 of them. In five institutions, all students passed.
The controller said the board will take necessary action against institutions whose results are not satisfactory. Along with 2,137 students getting GPA 5, no student passing from 19 institutions has started a new discussion on the teaching and education standard of these institutions.
Khulna
Our Khulna bureau reports that no student passed in the 2026 HSC exam from six institutions of Khulna district under the Jashore education board. In total, 197 candidates took part from 16 institutions of the board, but none of them passed. Questions have been raised about teaching, education standards and student preparation in these institutions.
An analysis of the list approved by the board’s controller of examinations shows the zero pass institutions in Khulna. They are Dumuria Model Mohila College, Independent Ideal College, Kopilmuni Sahachari Vidya Mandir in Paikgachha, Shakbaria School and College in Koyra, Comrade Ratan Sen Collegiate Girls College in Rupsha, and Khulna Newsprint Mills School and College.
These institutions had 3, 11, 3, 29, 1 and 12 candidates respectively, but none passed. The most disappointing result came from Shakbaria School and College in Koyra, where all 29 candidates failed. In Kopilmuni Sahachari Vidya Mandir in Paikgachha, none of the three candidates passed this year.
Last year, five candidates took part from the same institution and none of them passed. The head teacher of the institution is Mr. Sanjay Kumar Mondal. The chair of its governing body is the Deputy Commissioner of Khulna.
Secretary of the Jashore education board Mr. Abdul Matin said that last year the heads of institutions where all students failed received show cause notices. He said their statements were heard. The board will analyse the reasons and take necessary action.
He also said this year the heads of institutions where all students failed will get show cause notices. If needed, the board may stop renewing the affiliation of these institutions.
In contrast to the zero pass institutions, Navy Anchorage School and College in Khalishpur, Khulna did well. All 61 candidates from the institution passed. The other two institutions under the Jashore board where all students passed are Jhenaidah Cadet College and Bright Model School and College in Chuadanga.
People concerned believe that regular teaching, student attendance, preparation before exams and education standards need serious review. They also say effective supervision and necessary action are urgent for institutions that keep doing badly.
Bogura
Our Bogura bureau reports that the pass rate has fallen in Bogura this year. But the best colleges have kept their top positions. In Government Azizul Haque College, 1,471 students took the HSC exam this year, and 1,455 of them passed. The pass rate is 98.91 percent.
Among the other top institutions, 425 students sat the exam from Armed Police Battalion Public School and College and 420 passed. The pass rate is 98.82 percent, with 44 students getting GPA 5.
In Bogura Cantonment Public School and College, 657 of 665 students passed. The pass rate is 98.80 percent, with 24 students getting GPA 5. In BIAM Model School and College, 236 of 240 students passed. The pass rate is 98.33 percent, with 41 students getting GPA 5.
BIAM Laboratory School and College has a pass rate of 92.14 percent, with 11 students getting GPA 5. Bogura Government College has a pass rate of 89.90 percent, with 107 students getting GPA 5. In Government Mojibar Rahman Bhandari Mohila College, 1,187 of 1,452 candidates passed. The pass rate is 81.75 percent, with 56 students getting GPA 5.
The pass rate in Government Shah Sultan College has fallen to 69.91 percent. There, 978 of 1,399 students passed, and 64 got GPA 5. Besides these, no student passed from five institutions of the district.
The institutions with a hundred percent failure are Tachlim Uddin Tarafdar College and Bagbari Model Mohila College in Gabtali upazila, and Gosaibari Mohila College in Dhunat upazila. The other two are Durgapur Ideal Mohila College and Allamar Takia High School and College in Kahalu upazila.
District Education Officer Mr. Ramzan Ali Akand said the pass rate and GPA 5 have both fallen across the country this year. He said this should be seen as a correct and true assessment of the examinees.
Jashore
Our Jashore bureau reports that both the pass rate and GPA 5 have fallen in the 2026 HSC exam under the Jashore Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board. The board’s pass rate this year is 44.92 percent. A total of 3,228 students got GPA 5.
Last year the pass rate was 50.20 percent and 5,995 students got GPA 5. Girls are ahead of boys. Not a single student passed from 16 institutions. Only three institutions had a hundred percent pass rate. Board secretary Mr. Abdul Matin announced the results officially yesterday in the board’s meeting room.
According to the board’s statistics, 117,510 students from 571 institutions in 10 districts were registered for the exam this year. Of them, 112,791 took part and 4,719 were absent. The board expelled 43 students for using unfair means. A total of 50,668 students passed. So the pass rate is 44.92 percent.
Girls ahead of boys
This time too, girls are ahead of boys in the pass rate and in GPA 5. According to the board, 54,811 boys took part in the exam and 21,502 of them passed. The pass rate for boys is 39.23 percent.
On the other hand, 57,980 girls took part and 29,166 of them passed. The pass rate for girls is 50.30 percent. Among the 3,228 students with GPA 5, 1,870 are girls and 1,358 are boys.
Jashore district on top, Narail at the bottom
In the district wise results, Jashore district is on top with a pass rate of 52.94 percent. Narail district is at the bottom with 36.78 percent. Among the other districts, the pass rates are 46.65 percent in Khulna and 46.13 percent in Chuadanga.
The pass rate is 45.38 percent in Kushtia, 43.45 percent in Satkhira and 41.98 percent in Jhenaidah. It is 40.76 percent in Meherpur, 38.86 percent in Bagerhat and 37.36 percent in Magura.
Rajshahi
Our Rajshahi bureau reports that the HSC pass rate in the Rajshahi Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board has fallen to 45.6 percent this year. This is the lowest pass rate since the auto pass of 2020 during the Corona pandemic. Controller of Examinations Ms. Iffat Jerin announced the results at 11 am on Saturday.
According to the published result, 141,936 candidates were registered in the board this year, and 137,356 of them sat the exam. Of these, 61,894 passed. The exam was held at 208 centres for candidates from 743 colleges in the eight districts of the division. The pass rate for boys is 37.71 percent and for girls it is 53.03 percent.
Girls are also ahead in getting GPA 5. A total of 4,520 candidates in the board got GPA 5. Of them, 1,965 are boys and 2,555 are girls. The controller said 31 candidates were expelled during the exam. Only nine colleges in the eight districts of the division had a hundred percent pass rate. In 39 colleges, no one passed.
In this board, the pass rate was 100 percent in 2020. It was 97.29 percent in 2021, 81.60 percent in 2022 and 78.46 percent in 2023. It was 81.24 percent in 2024 and 59.40 percent in 2025.
Controller of Examinations Ms. Iffat Jerin said students got marks as they wrote in their answer scripts. She said nobody got extra marks. So it affected the overall result.
Barishal
Our Barishal bureau reports that the pass rate in the Barishal Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board is 44.84 percent this year. A total of 950 students got GPA 5, the highest recognition of merit. Compared with last year, the board has seen a big fall in both the pass rate and GPA 5.
At the same time, not a single student passed from 11 institutions under the board. Educationists of Barishal say the pass rate has fallen by 37.01 percent in two years, and they call it a terrible picture of the education system in the region.
Of the 57,912 students who took part in the higher secondary exam this year, only 950 students, or 1.64 percent, got GPA 5. Among them, 343 are boys. The board says the number of girls is almost double.
On the other hand, no examinee passed from 11 of the board’s roughly 350 institutions. Three each are in Patuakhali and Bhola, two each are in Barguna and Pirojpur, and one is in Jhalakathi. No institution from Barishal is on the list.
Sylhet
Our Sylhet bureau reports that the results of this year’s HSC and equivalent exams have collapsed in the Sylhet education board. Controller of Examinations Ms. Bilkis Yasmin of the Sylhet education board said irregular candidates played a role in the poor results. She said this at a press conference held yesterday morning to announce the HSC results.
The pass rate in the Sylhet board is 50.90 percent this year. This is the lowest in the last 20 years. It can be said that almost half of the board’s students could not pass this time. A total of 71,893 candidates took part under the Sylhet board, and only 36,597 passed. So 35,296 students failed.
Controller of Examinations Ms. Bilkis Begum officially announced the results at a press conference at the Sylhet education board yesterday.
Cumilla
Our staff reporter in Cumilla reports that the pass rate in the Cumilla Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board has fallen to 48.04 percent. It is lower than last time. The number of students with GPA 5 has also fallen at an alarming rate. The fall in GPA 5 hit harder than the fall in the pass rate. This year only 1,313 students got GPA 5.
Controller of Examinations Mr. Md. Shafiqul Islam officially announced the results in the Cumilla education board’s conference room yesterday. According to board sources, 92,162 students took part in the exam under the board this year. Only 44,727 of them passed, and more than half of the examinees failed. Among those who passed, 15,857 are boys and 28,870 are girls.
The number of institutions with a hundred percent failure has raised a big question about the overall education standard of the institutions under the board. This year, not a single student passed from 15 institutions.
The board said that students who did not get the result they wanted can apply online for a review of their answer scripts. Applications start today and will continue for seven days. The board also said it will send show cause notices to institutions where not a single student passed.
It will also form a special supervision cell to recover from the collapse of the results. Senior officials of the board say a large number of examinees failed in compulsory English in both the business studies and humanities groups. They say there is a shortage of quality teachers in colleges in rural and small town areas, and that students are weak in subjects like English and ICT.
Because of this, the pass rate in these two groups has fallen to the forties.
Rangamati
Our Rangamati district correspondent reports a disastrous picture in the 2026 HSC results in Rangamati district. A total of 5,359 students took part from 22 institutions of the district, and only 1,714 of them passed. The average pass rate in the district is 31.98 percent. Only 15 students got GPA 5.
According to the result list published yesterday, Bangladesh Navy School and College in Kaptai has the highest pass rate among the institutions in the district. Of its 170 examinees, 159 passed. The pass rate is 93.53 percent.
Bhola
Our Bhola district correspondent reports that the HSC pass rate in Bhola is 39.54 percent. This means 60.46 percent of the students could not pass. According to the results published by the Barishal education board, the district’s pass rate is 39.54 percent this year. Despite the overall disappointment, there has been some progress in getting GPA 5.
This information came from the statistics of the Barishal education board after the results were published on Saturday.
Lakshmipur
Our Lakshmipur Sadar correspondent reports that the pass rate in Lakshmipur district is 41.29 percent. This year 8,777 students took part from 47 institutions of the district. Of them, 3,624 passed. A total of 81 students got GPA 5. The pass rate is zero in five institutions of the district.
Munshiganj
Our Munshiganj district correspondent reports that in the 2026 Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exam, Bikrampur Adarsha College took first place among the MPO enlisted colleges of Sirajdikhan upazila in Munshiganj.
This year the pass rate is 50.85 percent in Malkhanagar College and 51 percent in Ali Azgar Abdullah College in Sirajdikhan. It is 36.62 percent in Ichapura College and zero percent in Rajdia College. It is 13.79 percent in Khasmahal College, 9.9 percent in Syedpur College and 23.91 percent in Chitrakot College.
Among these institutions, Bikrampur Adarsha College is on top with a pass rate of 82.84 percent. Because of this success, the principal and teachers of the college greeted Mr. Mir Sarfat Ali Sapu with flowers. Joy and excitement were seen among the teachers, students and others connected with the college.
Cox’s Bazar
Our Cox’s Bazar bureau reports that the HSC and equivalent exams have caused a terrible result disaster in Cox’s Bazar district this year. The pass rate in the district has fallen to 43.93 percent, the lowest in the last 13 years. Almost half of the examinees failed. The number of students with GPA 5 has also fallen at an alarming rate.
This year only 53 students got GPA 5 in the whole district. Last year the number was 206. The information came from an analysis of the Chattogram education board’s results, published yesterday. The results show that no student got GPA 5 in 19 of the 26 colleges in the district.
District Commissioner Mr. Md. Abdul Mannan said the students’ lack of attention to their studies and various problems of the institutions are the reasons for the result disaster.
According to the Chattogram education board, the district had 12,843 examinees this year. Of them, 11,458 took part in the exam. Among those who took part, 5,162 are boys and 7,536 are girls. A total of 5,034 passed. The average pass rate in the district is 43.93 percent.
Girls are ahead of boys in the pass rate. The pass rate for boys is 41.37 percent and for girls it is 44.45 percent. In total, only 53 students got GPA 5.
