Centre recommends 7 states adopt common board for class 10, 12 as analysis puts 7 states in red flag over dismal performance

Seven states were recommended by the School Education Department to adopt a common board in classes 10 and 12 after the department's analysis put the seven states in the red flag for registering 66 per cent of student failures during last year, officials reported.

There are seven states in the nation that are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Manipur, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal.

There are 66 school boards of the nation, of which there are three national-level boards and 63 state-level boards (54 regular and 12 open boards),

While the first 33 boards cover 97 per cent of students, the remaining 33 boards cover a meager 3 per cent of students.

"Common board for class 10 and 12 is the future for education to be simple. In the absence of a common board, there are poor educational outcomes. We have recommended these states to implement a common board," School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar stated.

22.17 lakh Class 10 and 20.16 lakh Class 12 students failed in the whole country in 2024.

Though the position in the figures changed during the decade, government officials maintain that it is still a significant hindrance to greater retention and promotion to higher education.

"Role of National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in such states came into prominence to bring the failed students into education. NIOS's current visibility near Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana (where lowest failure rates are observed) has to be carried into other states.".

"Standardisation of assessment procedure, curriculums, setting of papers, elevation (to the next class), exam duration also require Boards' attention," Kumar said.

The report said open school boards performed poorly, with only 54 per cent of Class 10 and 57 percent of Class 12 passing.

"Institutions like NIOS should complement efforts at dropout prevention, supplemented by Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan and increased parental involvement," Kumar said.

One of the trends seen is girls surpassing boys on most boards, particularly in science. Over 28 lakh girls cleared science, which overtook the 27.2 lakh in arts - a turnabout from previous trends and an increase from 23.3 lakh in 2022.

The report mentioned enormous disparities between students' performance in various medium of instruction.

Candidates in Malayalam and Odia mediums performed much better than counterparts writing in Kannada, Telugu or Assamese, a factor of regional differences. Those states with board systems which have been implemented, including Kerala, Odisha and Manipur, all recorded more than 97 per cent pass percentages, with Kerala recording 99.96 per cent.

Analysis report also registered Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) with good performances as 72 per cent of students passed in NEET-UG. Students of Kendriya and Navodaya Vidyalayas also did well in engineering entrance exams.

The NVs are residential, co-educational institutions providing quality modern education from Class VI to XII to meritorious students, predominantly from rural background.