The pass percentage however has risen by two per cent over the last year.
More than 50 per cent of the students in Madhya Pradesh have failed in the Class 10 board examinations this year.
According to the results declared last week by the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education, 49.7 per cent of the regular students cleared the exam while only 14.02 per cent students passed in the private category. A total of 11 lakh students appeared in the examinations.
The results have not seen much improvement in the last four years. From 55 per cent in 2011, the pass percentage came down to 53.9 in 2012 and further dipped to 51.19 and 47.74 in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
Some teachers attribute the decline in students' performance to a flawed education system.
"The reason for such poor results is that we cannot fail a student from Class 1 to 8. So when students reach class 9 or 10, they perform poorly, as before this, they have not been assessed. Also in elections, we teachers were deployed, which affected our work," said Bharat Patel, president of the Teachers' Union.
Despite the poor results, 50,000 posts for teachers remain unfilled in the state. There are 60,000 contractual teachers who are paid on a daily basis
"The results this year have been better... the pass percentage has gone up by two per cent and in rural areas it has gone up by four per cent. We are going to recruit more teachers and also ensure their attendance and implement assessment of students in class 5 and 8 to ensure better class 10 results in years to come," said Education Minister Deepak Joshi.