Set for scrapping, DBSE top performer in education ministry’s analysis of Classes 10, 12 results

The board results data released by the union education ministry show that the Delhi Board of Secondary Education (DBSE) reported the best results at secondary (Class 10) and higher secondary (Class 12) levels last year. The board is in the process of being dismantled by the Delhi Government. The analysis of Classes 10 and 12 board exam results was published by the ministry of education on June 18, 2025.

There are 66 boards for conducting school exams. Even among those reporting pass percentages of 60% and above, there’s wide variation in performance across the two levels.

This subset includes the state boards of Uttarakhand, Punjab, Kerala, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. At the secondary level, the central and private Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi, is in the fourth position.

The results also show that following the drop in the pass percentage in the previous year at both secondary and senior secondary levels, 2024 saw a revival. In Class 10, the overall pass percentage increased from 84.93% in 2023 to 86.51% in 2024. In Class 12, it jumped even higher, from 82.47% to 88.50%. This is the best record in a decade, not counting the Covid year of 2021 when many board exams were cancelled and students marked using other assessment policies. The highest pass percentage was recorded in 2021.

From 2024, the education ministry has included data from eight more boards. These include the UP Board of Madrasa Education; Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Sanskrit Shiksha Board, Ujjain; Madarsa Education Board, Dehradun; Bhartiya Shiksha Board, Haridwar; Delhi Board of School Education (DBSE); Haryana State Open Board; Board of Open Schooling and Skill Education, Sikkim; and Himachal Pradesh State Open School.

The 66 include open schools – the central National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and 11 state ones – 52 regular state boards and two central boards.

Boards Exams: Best pass percentages

The analysis has considered in detail boards with the highest percentages of students to scores 60% and above.

The top five pass percentages and boards for each level are given below. The Delhi board is the only one to appear in both lists.

Class 10th, 12th Board Exams: Highest pass percentages

However, it is important to note that the boards in the top two positions at the secondary level had very few students appearing in comparison to others. DBSE had a total of 2,519 students; the Bharaitya Siksha Board Haridwar, just 96; and the UP Sanskrit Board had 19,232 students.

Among the top five for the higher secondary level, the Kerala Higher Secondary Board (also known as the Directorate of Higher Secondary Education, DHSE) had the most examinees – 4,12,417.

Out of all 66, the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP or UP board) had the most students at secondary and higher secondary levels, 27,49,364 and 24,52,830, respectively. The pass percentage was 88.59% at secondary and 82.60% at higher secondary level.

Education Ministry: Common board for 7 states

The ministry of education has recommended that seven states adopt a common board to hold both Class 10 and Class 12 exams. The seven states are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Manipur, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal, as they accounted for 66% of student failures in 2024.

Among the open boards, the two boards with maximum pass percentage at both levels are – Board of Open Schooling and Skill Education, Sikkim and West Bengal Council of Rabindra Open Schooling. For Sikkim, the pass percentage is 95.33% in secondary and 94.19% in higher secondary level. West Bengal’s board reported pass percentages of 87.87% and 80.53% in Class 10 and 12, respectively.

Among the poor-performing boards was Meghalaya Board of School Education whose pass percentage stood at 55.81% in Class 10, followed by Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE), Bhopal, at 59.26%. However, the MP Board reported a pass percentage of 66.67% in Class 12.

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Second-highest result in 10 years

Pass percentage data since 2014 shows that secondary-level success-rates started rising from 2019 when it grew by 2.22 percentage points. Prior to this, the pass percentage mostly fluctuated between 77% and 79%.

A total of 1,85,53,676 students appeared for the board exams last year, 25,264 more than in 2023. The private unaided schools contributed 40% of students, followed by government schools 38%.

Class 12 students performed better than Class 10 ones in 2015, 2022 and 2024. At this level the number of students appearing dropped from 1,55,01,791 in 2023 to 1,49,45,104 in 2024. The private schools contributed 42% of students, followed by 29% government ones.

The table below shows the pass percentages in Classes 10 and 12 over 10 years.

Board Exams: Pass percentages over time

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Board Exam: Performance by gender

At the secondary level, 59.51% of girls and 53.16% of boys scored 60% and above. However, this represents a drop compared to 2023, when 64.01% of girls and 57.50% of boys had scored first division marks.

At the senior-secondary level, both boys and girls showed improvement over the previous year. In 2024, 66.37% of girls and 57.37% of boys scored over 60%, up from 60.13% and 51.99%, repsectively, the previous year.