Andhra Pradesh and Telangana: Nearly 80% of Class 12 Students Opt for Science Stream, Says Government Study

In 2023, over 65% of Class 12 students in Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana chose the science stream, while more than 75% of students in Meghalaya, Tripura, West Bengal, and Nagaland opted for the arts stream, according to data from the Union government.

Among the state boards, the Board of Intermediate Education, Andhra Pradesh had the highest percentage of Class 12 students in the science stream at 78%, while the Meghalaya Board of School Education had the lowest at 11.4%. In contrast, 81.1% of Class 12 students in the Meghalaya state board were in the arts stream, followed by the Tripura Board of Secondary Education with 84.6%, and the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education with 78.4%.

A government analysis of the 2023 Class 10 and 12 board exams revealed a higher failure rate among state boards compared to central boards, with a larger number of students appearing for these exams in state boards.

Out of the 1.55 crore students who appeared for Class 12 board exams across state and central boards, around 27.2 lakh students failed. State boards, with about 1.37 crore students, saw around 25 lakh students failing (an 18% failure rate). In comparison, central boards had around 17.6 lakh students taking the exams, with approximately 2.1 lakh failing (a 12% failure rate).

Of the 27.2 lakh students who failed Class 12, 53% (around 14.4 lakh students) were from the state boards of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and the central boards. The UP State Board had the highest number of failures, with around 5.92 lakh students, followed by Madhya Pradesh (3.35 lakh), the central boards (2.13 lakh), Gujarat (1.62 lakh), and Maharashtra (1.37 lakh).

In 21 out of 28 state boards, as well as the central boards, the number of students failing Class 12 in 2023 was higher than in the previous year.

For Class 10, around 1.85 crore students appeared across state and central boards, with about 28 lakh students failing. The central boards saw a 6% failure rate, while the state boards had a much higher failure rate of 16%.

With around 28 lakh students failing Class 10 and 5.5 lakh not appearing for the exam, approximately 33.5 lakh students didn't reach Class 11, indicating a low retention rate and gross enrollment ratio at the higher secondary level, according to the Ministry of Education.

Among the 28 lakh students who failed Class 10 in 2023, the highest number was in the Andhra Pradesh State Board (2.55 lakh students), followed by Karnataka (1.96 lakh), the central boards (1.51 lakh), Maharashtra (1.06 lakh), and Haryana (95,560 students).

Given the differences across school boards, PARAKH, a standard-setting body under NCERT, recently submitted an ‘equivalence’ report to the Ministry of Education. The report includes recommendations on achieving equivalence across different school boards, as mentioned in the National Education Policy, 2020. These recommendations are currently under discussion with various school boards.

The government’s analysis also shows a higher pass percentage among girls in Class 12 (51%) compared to boys (49%). More girls were enrolled in the arts stream (28.3 lakh) than boys (21.12 lakh), and the number of girls in the science stream increased from 23.3 lakh in 2022 to 25.04 lakh in 2023.