KATHMANDU: More than fifty percent of the students who took Secondary Education Examinations (SEE) in Nepal this year are ineligible to move on to grade 11. Just 222,472 students, or 47.87 percent, of the whole student body, achieved the minimal requirement of a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 1.60 for further study. According to a new grading system that the National Examination Board (NEB) has introduced, students who fail to meet the required GPA on their exams will need to retake them. 242,313 students, or 52.13 percent, got a no grade out of 464,785 students who took the examinations.

Students who got non-grades in one or two subjects, totaling 115,834, will be eligible to take supplemental tests on August 2 and 3. Specifically, 48,038 students failed two subjects while 67,796 failed one. the board's chairman, Mahashram Sharma stated that the results of these extra tests will allow more students to go to grade 11.

Over 50,000 out of the 504,414 participants opted not to take the examinations. Similar to previous years, the performance of these students was especially low in English, Science, and Mathematics. A significant percentage of pupils also failed in Science, English, and Social Studies. Approximately 40% of the students, or 177,895 kids, failed in Mathematics. 69,532 pupils in Nepali failed to receive the required minimum grades.

Dipak Kaphle, secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, sees the results as an opportunity to develop better policies to improve learning outcomes. He mentioned the need to enhance the evaluation system and the teaching-learning environment, particularly given the acute shortage of teachers for subjects with the highest failure rates. Reports have continuously shown that more instructors are needed, but previous committee recommendations have not been carried out.

This year's results revealed that only 31,209 students had a GPA of 3.60 or above, with a maximum attainable GPA being 4. A total of 186 students attained this highest grade. Furthermore, 68,256 students scored between 3.20 and 3.60 GPA, while 78,847 students managed between 2.80 and 3.20 GPA. The new curriculum requires students to score at least 35 percent in theoretical exams to qualify for higher studies, a change from the previous system where combined theoretical and practical scores were considered.