Hard lessons from 2025 HSC results

The sharp fall in the 2025 HSC and equivalent examinations pass rate to its lowest level in twenty years, though deeply distressing, seems to have been accepted by both educators and the public with a weary sense of inevitability. The overall pass rate of 58.83 per cent at this critical stage of education exposes deep cracks in education sector built up over years, if not decades. This decline has undeniably created a major challenge for the education system and a profound personal setback for the students who did not succeed. Nearly half a million students out of 1.25 million across 11 boards have found themselves on the wrong side of the result while the number of top scorers has been halved, dropping from 145,911 last year to 69,097 this year. Even among those who passed, many barely crossed the minimum threshold of 33 per cent in several subjects. While technically a pass, this marginal success reveals their lack of genuine understanding and sets students up for a difficult future, as they may find themselves on the back foot in their subsequent educational pursuits and careers due to this poor foundational result.  

The immediate cause of this sharp decline appears to be a deliberate move away from the grade inflation of recent years, specifically the widespread awarding of "grace marks" that artificially boosted results and created a distorted perception of academic achievement. The pandemic era, with its abridged syllabuses and alternative assessment methods, created an artificial peak in performance, with pass rates soaring above 95 per cent and the number of top-grade recipients multiplying. This year's HSC results, the first under a new interim administration and the first to be conducted with full marks and duration since the pandemic without such compensatory measures, have simply pulled back the curtain on a reality long obscured by lenient practices. The fact that a similar drop occurred in the SSC examinations suggests a broader effort to recalibrate evaluation standards, however jarring the immediate outcome may be. 

Education adviser Dr Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar has rightly pointed out that years of inflated results have masked a real crisis in learning. Learning gaps begin at the primary level and widen over time, yet a culture developed where pass rates were seen as the ultimate indicator of success and the number of GPA-5 achievers as the sole measure of progress. The current results are a direct reflection of that misplaced emphasis. Teachers too must share part of the responsibility, particularly for poor classroom instruction and for routinely abandoning their classes to protest for various demands. Walkouts by teachers at primary, secondary and higher secondary levels have become routine as agitation for their higher pay, better benefits and nationalisation is perpetual. Right now, for instance, MPO-listed teachers are staging protests for housing and other allowances, disrupting classes in the process. However legitimate, these near-constant protests have inevitably taken a toll on both the quality and quantity of instruction and contributed to the learning deficit shown by the latest results. 

Policymakers and educators must treat these results as a much-needed wake-up call. A passing grade should once again signify true readiness for the next stage of education, not merely the ability to clear a minimal bar. The national conversation must also move immediately from a narrow fixation on pass rates to the hard work of real learning and better teaching. Countries that have raised themselves through education did so by confronting failure, reforming policies and pursuing continuous improvement. Bangladesh must take the same path, ensuring that its education system not only meets the immediate needs of the job market but also keeps pace with the demands of a rapidly-changing world.