Wide Gap Separates Dhaka from Regional Boards in Latest HSC Results

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Bangladesh's 2026 Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations have exposed a stark divide between academic disciplines, with the Dhaka education board maintaining commanding dominance in science even as a steep downturn in humanities and business studies pulled the overall national pass rate down to 52.12 percent. Announced on Saturday at the Secretariat by Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon, the nationwide results mark the lowest success rate in 22 years—the weakest showing since 2004, when 47.74 percent of candidates passed. Out of 1,240,798 examinees across all 11 education boards, 646,685 qualified for higher studies while 593,113 failed to clear the assessments, reflecting a 6.71 percentage-point drop from the 2025 pass rate of 58.83 percent.

Across the nine general education boards, where 541,249 students succeeded for a combined pass rate of 51.62 percent, outcomes varied sharply by academic track. Dhaka led the country overall by clearing 183,930 of its 297,621 candidates for a board-high 61.80 percent, anchored by an 81.87 percent pass rate in science. Mymensingh and Chattogram followed Dhaka in the science stream at 75.56 percent and 74.42 percent, respectively, while Barishal finished last in the discipline at 56.78 percent. The gap was equally pronounced among top scorers: of the 35,948 general-board students who earned a maximum GPA-5, science candidates claimed 26,702, compared with 5,978 in humanities and 3,268 in business studies.

Humanities and commerce examinees bore the brunt of the downturn across regional boards. In the humanities stream, Rajshahi registered the lowest pass rate at 36.96 percent, closely followed by Jashore at 38.21 percent and Chattogram at 38.36 percent, while Dhaka posted the stream's highest mark at 48.22 percent. A similar pattern emerged in business studies, where Dhaka finished first at 60.06 percent and Chattogram took second place at 54.14 percent, whereas Rajshahi sank to the bottom at 35.63 percent. In overall general-board standings, Barishal ranked lowest nationwide, with Rajshahi and Jashore hovering just above 45 percent.

Beyond the general boards, the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board recorded a 61.07 percent pass rate with 3,250 top-grade achievers, and the Bangladesh Technical Education Board logged a 49.43 percent success rate alongside 886 top scorers. Nationwide, 40,084 students achieved the highest grade across all boards, down by 29,013 from the 69,097 recorded a year earlier. Female examinees outperformed male peers in overall pass rate at 56.31 percent versus 47.75 percent, though boys edged ahead in top grades with 20,363 achievers to 19,721 for girls. Meanwhile, the number of educational institutions with zero passing candidates rose by 91 from last year's 202 to reach 293, compared with 139 institutions where every candidate passed. Acknowledging shortfalls in teaching methods and the broader learning environment, Minister Milon announced plans to arrange supplementary examinations within a month for students who failed one or two subjects, while Prime Minister's Education Advisor Mahdi Amin credited objective script evaluation and confirmed that online applications for full answer-script re-scrutiny will remain open from November 1 to November 7.