The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), under the Ministry of Education, reported that more than 29 lakh students failed in Class 10 board exams last year. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, presenting the data in the Lok Sabha on Monday, stated that out of 18,99,08,809 students who took the Class 10 examination, 160,346,671 passed, while 29,561,138 students did not advance to Class 11.
Over the past four years, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of students failing the Class 10 board exams. In 2019, the figure was 1,09,800; in 2020, it was 1,00,812; in 2021, it dropped to 31,196, but in 2022, it spiked to 1,17,308, as the data revealed.
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Various boards, including the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), Assam Board of Secondary Education, Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education, Gujarat Secondary & Higher Secondary Education Board, Board of School Education Haryana (HSEB), Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education, Board of Secondary Education Madhya Pradesh, Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad Uttar Pradesh, and others, have also reported a significant number of Class 10 students failing in the past year, it further showed.
The minister attributed the reasons for student failures to factors such as non-attendance, difficulties in following school instructions, lack of interest in studies, the difficulty level of question papers, insufficient quality teachers, and a lack of support from parents, teachers, and schools.
"The factors contributing to students' failure in examinations are diverse, including non-attendance at schools, challenges in understanding school instructions, lack of interest in studies, the difficulty level of question papers, a shortage of qualified teachers, insufficient support from parents, teachers, and schools, among others. Additionally, education falls within the concurrent list of the Constitution, and the majority of schools operate under the jurisdiction of the respective state and Union Territory governments," the education minister said.
