Behind the numbers: The story of Assam’s sliding HS scores (2016-2025)

Guwahati, April 30: The results of the 2025 Higher Secondary examination were declared on Wednesday, with all three traditional streams—Arts, Science, and Commerce—recording pass percentages above 80%.

While the numbers may seem encouraging at first glance, a closer look reveals a worrying trend - all three streams have registered a significant dip this year.

The past ten years have seen Assam’s academic landscape undergo sweeping changes: policy reforms, digital transitions, curriculum revisions, and the socio-economic aftershocks of COVID-19. Through it all, student performance has mirrored the state’s evolving approach to pedagogy and evaluation.

Against this backdrop, The Assam Tribune delves into a decade of data and disruption to understand the trajectory of Assam’s higher secondary education that have shaped the results over the years.

Arts stream

Among all the streams, Humanities has displayed the most volatility in performance over the last decade. In 2016, the pass percentage was a healthy 79.92%, but this took a sharp hit in 2017 when it fell to 73.16%, possibly reflecting curricular and administrative challenges.

In the subsequent years, performance remained in a narrow scale, 74.68% in 2018 and 75.14% in 2019, indicating stagnant growth. By 2020, there was a slight recovery to 78.28%.

The most dramatic shift came during the pandemic year of 2021 when the pass percentage surged to an all-time high of 98.93%. This was primarily due to alternative evaluation methods based on internal marks, attendance, and past academic records. 

By 2022, as the system reverted to more traditional examinations, the pass percentage stuck at 83.48%. However, 2023 exposed deeper learning gaps, with the pass rate plunging to 70.12%, one of the lowest in the decade.

This steep fall likely mirrored the academic setbacks endured during prolonged school closures and insufficient academic support. Encouragingly, 2024 saw a major rebound to 88.36%, possibly due to corrective measures like remedial classes, better attendance, and focused assessments. In 2025, arts settled at 81.03%, indicating a more realistic but dismal performance compared to the earlier years.

Science stream

The science stream has remained the most consistent and high-performing stream throughout the decade. Starting strong in 2016 with a pass percentage of 90.96%, science held steady in the upper 80s in the following years - 86.24% in 2017, 85.74% in 2018, and 86.59% in 2019. These figures suggest a relatively well-managed stream with better infrastructural and academic support.

By 2020, performance climbed to 88.06%. The impact of the pandemic in 2021, like in other streams, led to an extraordinary result - 99.06% of students passed. However, 2022 saw a recalibration with 92.19%, a grounded level. The years 2023 and 2024 posted results of 84.96% and 89.88% respectively, both within an acceptable range.

In 2025, the pass percentage settled at 84.88%, marking the lowest point since 2018 but still ahead of arts and vocational. This suggests that even amidst disruptions, science students and institutions managed to maintain academic integrity and performance.

Notably, several districts like Sivasagar (97.13%), Baksa (95.66%), and Darrang (92.38%) emerged as science education hubs, showing impressive outcomes.

Commerce stream

The Commerce stream showed a fairly balanced start in the decade, beginning with 86.01% in 2016. Though there was a dip to 82.72% in 2017, subsequent years marked a gradual recovery, 84.64% in 2018, 87.59% in 2019, and 88.18% in 2020.

The pandemic effect in 2021 took the result to an exceptional 99.57%, the highest in the stream’s history, again attributed to relaxed evaluation norms. However, 2022’s result dropped to a still-strong 87.26%. It was 2023 that marked a worrying decline to 79.57%, reflecting the impact of returning to normal examinations after a period of educational discontinuity.

2024 revived the numbers to 87.66%, and 2025 closed at 82.18%, bringing the stream back to its pre-pandemic performance levels. Though not as consistent as Science, Commerce managed to avoid extreme lows like Arts. Districts such as Baksa (98.20%), Chirang (98.15%), and Nagaon (92.97%) were standout performers in 2025.

Vocational stream

Introduced to promote practical skills and employability, the vocational stream remains the most underperforming among the four. While there are no decade-long data for every year, available figures show a worrying trend. In 2025, the pass percentage stood at 68.55%, significantly lower than other streams.

Despite efforts to integrate vocational education with mainstream curricula, the stream faces multiple hurdles — inadequate infrastructure, lack of trained teachers, limited industry exposure, and low aspirational value.

Some districts such as Nalbari and Biswanath managed a 100% pass rate, but others like Hailakandi (29.27%), Cachar (39.29%), and Karbi Anglong (30.00%) exposed the gaping inequalities in vocational education access.

Girls lead the way

A consistent highlight across the decade has been the superior performance of female students. In 2025, across all streams — Arts, Science, Commerce, and Vocational — girls outperformed boys.

In Arts, girls recorded an 82.95% pass rate against boys’ 78.42%. In Science, girls achieved 85.54% compared to boys' 84.39%. In Commerce, both were close, but girls edged slightly ahead with 82.40% over boys’ 82.08%. The most notable difference appeared in the Vocational stream, where girls scored 74.39%, significantly higher than boys at 65.53%.

This consistent trend suggests a positive shift in educational participation and academic focus among female students, possibly aided by community support, increased awareness, and government incentives for girls’ education.

The COVID years

The pandemic years, 2020 and 2021, dramatically altered the result landscape. With physical exams cancelled in 2021, internal assessments and relaxed policies led to near-100% pass rates in all streams.

While this was necessary under the circumstances, it inflated the academic record unrealistically. As a result, 2022 to 2023 saw sharp corrections, particularly in Arts and Commerce.

District level standouts

Several districts made their mark in 2025. Sivasagar topped the Science stream with 97.13%, while Baksa emerged strong in both Science and Commerce. Darrang, Nalbari, and Jorhat consistently produced high-performing students across multiple streams. On the flip side, Cachar, Goalpara, Karbi Anglong, and Dima Hasao lagged, highlighting geographic and resource disparities.

The 10-year performance trajectory of Assam’s HS examinations paints a picture of resilience and opportunity. While Science has remained the most stable, and Commerce mostly reliable, Arts showed significant volatility, and Vocational needs structural reform. The consistently better performance by girls is a positive sign of evolving social attitudes toward female education.

The post-COVID recovery shows that Assam’s academic system can bounce back, but the road ahead requires equity-focused policies, improved teaching infrastructure, data-driven decision-making, and tailored interventions for underperforming districts and streams.