No one passed the class X exam in 73 government schools in Manipur

73 of the 323 government schools in Manipur sport a shameful figure of zero pass percentage in the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) or the class X examination whose results were announced last week. This translates into a shocking scenario where not a single student from these 73 schools passed the HSLC examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BSEM). 
 
To get a proper handle of the dismal state of education in Manipur consider that a total of 6,484 students from 323 government schools appeared in the examination, and out of those only 2,781 got through, a pass percentage of roughly 42.8 %. This compares poorly with the state's average pass percentage for HSLC 2016 of 61.52%.

The saga continues with only 1 student each from 28 government schools passing the exam and not a single government school having a student in the top 20 achievers.  This vindicates the generally accepted maxim that government schools perform poorly as compared to the private schools.
 
Highly placed sources said, "The government has taken a serious note of the non-performance of the government schools. The only way out is to abolish some of these schools, so that students could get admission in private schools". 
 

It is noteworthy that the performance of government schools has been declining year after year with only 28 government schools in 2013 having a zero pass percentage in the HSLC examination. The performance deteriorated with 48 schools in 2014 and 70 in 2015. The exam results have come as a cruel shock to parents and students alike.  Romen Chingtham, who had had sent his son to a government school, said that he was disappointed by failure of his son to pass the exam. 
 

Education department officials were at a loss to explain the failure of some of the government schools to have a single successful student.  Rather than driving performance and coming up with an analysis of the situation, the government's solution to the problem has been to shut down non-performing schools. 

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Tombisana High School in the heart of Imphal city and the Bengali High School are the latest casualties of the government’s knee jerk reaction. The rich have long deserted government schools which are now left only with children of parents with modest means.