Bihar Students Fail Exams, Education Minister Hails this “Success”

64 per cent of the students in Bihar have failed in this year’s Class XII examination.

The BJP has blamed Bihar CM Nitish Kumar for the state’s poor performance in the board examinations. (Photo: Reuters)

A staggering 64 per cent of students in Bihar have failed in this year's Class XII examination, thanks to the successful conduct of a cheating-free examination. While state education minister Ashok Choudhary hailed the successful execution of a cheating-free examination, the BJP blamed the poor pass percentage on the education system run by the Nitish Kumar government.

It is a historical result of the Class XII exams in many ways. The pass percentage may have drastically fallen in Science and Commerce streams this year, but the exam was free from cheating.

Anand Kishore, Bihar School Examination Board

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How Bihar’s Students Fared in Different Streams in This Year's Exams

Kishore added that it was for the first time that the board code was used with answer sheets to ensure no unfair means during evaluation and it was easy to identify the answer sheets once uploaded.

Only 30.11 per cent of students passed the test in the Science stream. The results were dismal in the Arts stream too where a meager 37 per cent of the examinees could pass the test. In the Commerce stream, however, the pass percentage was 73.76.

Nearly 13 lakh students had appeared for the Class XII examination, which was held between 14 February and 25 February this year. The shocking results came against the backdrop of stringent measures taken by the Bihar government this year to ensure a cheating-fee examination in view of the toppers scam last year.

How Bihar's Students Fared in the Past Years

In 2015, the Science stream pass percentage was 89.32 and 67.06 per cent in 2016, but plunged to 30.11 per cent this year. In the Commerce stream, 90.55 per cent students passed in 2015 and 80.87 per cent in 2016, but slided to 73.76 per cent this year. Similarly, in the Arts stream, 56 per cent students passed in 2016, but dropped to 37.13 per cent this year.

Last year, Arts topper Ruby Roy in a TV interview after publication of results had pronounced political science as "Prodikal science" which, according to her, was related to cooking. Later, a probe had revealed a racket in the state's class XII examination.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)

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