GUWAHATI: The overall pass percentage in the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) Examination 2025 has declined sharply to 63.98%, compared to 75.7% in 2024. The results were declared by the Assam State School Education Board (ASSEB) on Friday, April 11.
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A total of 4,22,737 students appeared for the examination this year. The top rank was secured by Amishii Saikia of Pragya Academy, Jorhat, who scored 591 marks.
The nearly 12 percentage point drop in the pass rate has raised concerns among education officials and stakeholders. According to ASSEB, the decline comes in the wake of a revised question paper pattern introduced this year, aimed at testing students’ conceptual understanding rather than relying on memorised content.
Talking to GPlus, Dipika Choudhury, Inspector of Schools for Kamrup (M) and Deputy Director of Secondary Education, said that many students found the new format challenging.
“This year, the questions were more concept-based. That means students had to understand the subject deeply instead of relying on memorised answers. The intention was to bring in quality improvement, but many students struggled because they were not used to this pattern,” she explained.
She also pointed out that many students still rely heavily on guidebooks rather than school textbooks, which affected their ability to respond to analytical or application-based questions.
“In many cases, students follow only guidebooks thinking those will be enough. But this year’s paper needed textbook clarity and subject understanding. That’s where many fell short,” she said.
