For the first time, the pass percentage of class 12 girls from the science stream surpassed those from the arts stream in 2024, a Ministry of Education report stated.
The report is based on the analysis of 66 school education boards across India including 54 regular and 12 open boards. While the top 33 boards cover 97 per cent of students, the remaining 33 boards cover just 3 per cent of students.
In 2022, 28.2 lakh girls passed with the arts stream, compared to 23.3 lakh with the science stream, while in 2023, 29.6 lakh girls passed Class 12 with the arts stream and 25.6 lakh with the science stream.
"There has been a consistent rise in the number of students graduating from Class 12 with the science stream over the last 11 years, from 2013 to 2024. In 2013, 36.3 lakh students passed with the science stream and this surged to 61 lakh in 2024. "The number of girls passing with the science stream also increased exponentially during these years, from 13.4 lakh in 2013 to 28.1 lakh in 2014," School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar said.
Kumar further noted that in 2024, science was the most sought-after stream.
"For the first time, girls passing out from the science stream was more than girls from the arts stream. This might be due to improvement in the availability of facilities viz., Subject wise labs, teachers, ATLs, Smart class in schools," he said. According to the report, in 2013, 1.7 lakh girls from marginalised sections passed Class 12 with science, which increased to 4.1 lakh in 2024. Similarly, the number of Scheduled Tribe (ST) girls passing with the science stream rose from 60,000 in 2013 to 1.4 lakh in 2024.
The report also pointed out a decline in the number of students passing Class 12 with the commerce stream.
In 2022, 18 lakh students passed with commerce, which dropped to 16.8 lakh in 2024.