After a big downslide in last year's HSC results, students this year have done better, registering a considerable rise in both pass rates and achieving GPA-5.

The success rate at the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams under eight general education boards rose to 72.47 percent, up by 6.63 percentage points from that of last year.

As many as 48,950 students have achieved GPA (Grade Point Average)-5 under the boards, show the results published yesterday. The number was 34,721 last year.

READ: Jessore board dazzles

READ: Madrasa Board fares worse

he combined pass rate under all the 10 education boards, including madrasa and technical boards, also increased to 74.70 percent from last year's 69.60 percent.

A total of 58,276 students secured GPA-5 under the boards this year, rising by 15,382 from last year's number. Only 20 students had scored GPA-5 when the grading system was introduced in 2003.

Boards' officials have attributed the overall success to students' better performance in English and a startling jump in the pass rate in Jessore board.

Last year, poor performance by students in English ultimately put a negative impact on the overall results.

"English has always been considered to be the major factor in the result chart and students' performance in this subject has been better this year," said Prof Mahabubur Rahman, chairman of Dhaka Education Board.

Yesterday's results show that the average pass rate in English has risen significantly in all boards.

In Dhaka board, the pass rate in the subject rose to 86.46 percent from last year's 79.10 percent.

Jessore board saw a phenomenal rise of 38.96 percent as around 90 percent of its examinees passed in English this year. This has also pushed the board's pass rate to 83.42 percent from 46.45 percent of last year.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid has attributed the overall success to the combined efforts of the teachers, students and guardians.

Announcing the overall results at a crowded press conference at his ministry at 1:00pm, he said, "After the results, we can say that we are gradually improving in all indicators of the standard of education."

The results, published within 57 days of the exams, were available in colleges, on the websites of the education boards and on mobile phones through text after 2:00pm yesterday.

Colleges across the country wore a festive look. Students and their parents, who looked anxious for some time, erupted into jubilation as soon as they received the results.

Some danced while some showed victory signs. Happiness was writ large upon their faces.

"I am extremely happy; my hard work has paid off," said a jubilant Tasmia, who secured GPA-5 from Viqarunnisa Noon School and College in the capital.

She gave all the credit to her teachers. "I would give equal credit to my parents for their constant support," she added.

Yesterday's results also showed that the number of colleges with zero pass rate has come down to 25 from 35 last year.

However, the number of institutions with cent percent pass rate decreased to 848 from 1,133 in 2015.

More than 12,03,640 students -- 5,57,842 females and 6,45,798 males -- from 8,345 institutions took this year's HSC and its equivalent examinations. Of them 8,99,150 students have passed the tests that began on April 3.

Jessore board (83.42 percent) topped the list of boards with highest pass rate. Comilla board (64.49 percent) was at the bottom.

Dhaka board has the highest number of GPA-5 achievers, with around half of the total GPA-5 scorers are from this board alone.

Around 83 percent of the total GPA-5 achievers are from science group, showed the results.

Madrasa board has topped the list of the 10 education boards in terms of pass rate for the 11th consecutive year.

However, the rate has dropped by two percentage point to 88.19 percent from that of previous year.

Two hundred and thirty two of the 248 Bangladeshi students, who took the exams from seven centres abroad, have passed. Only 53 of them got GPA-5.

GIRLS DID BETTER

This year, girls have done better than boys as their pass rate is 1.67 percentage points higher than that of the male examinees.

As many as 75.6 percent of the total female students have passed the examinations.

"This is a fundamental change in our society. It shows that girls, like boys, also can do any challenging jobs if they are given equal opportunities,” said the education minister.

However, in terms of GPA-5, the female students lagged behind their male counterparts. A total of 32,381 boys secured GPA-5.  The number of such female student was 25,895.

SCIENCE STUDENTS LEAD

As usual, students from science group did better than the students from other groups.

The success rate in science group was 83.04 percent while it was 74.43 percent in business studies group and 67.37 percent in humanities group.

MARKS WILL BE GIVEN

HSC examinees this year will get their marks for the first time since the introduction of the grading system 13 years ago.

The students will get their total marks along with the GPA score in their academic transcripts to be provided by the boards, said Prof Mahabubur Rahman, chairman of Dhaka board.

But, they will get their numbers in three sections -- essay type, MCQ and practical -- separately from the website: http://www.educationboardresults.gov.bd.

Meanwhile, the success of this year's HSC examinees may lead to a concern for many students as they now would have to face tough competition to get enrolled in good universities.