It was, to be honest, necessary to burst the GPA-5 bubble. For years, the number of students achieving the coveted GPA-5 (A+) in both Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams had been escalating at astonishing rates. When the grading system was first introduced at the secondary level in 2001, a mere 76 students attained the top grade. Similarly, in 2003, when adopted at the higher secondary level, just 20 students secured the top score. From those modest beginnings, the number of GPA-5 scorers skyrocketed to a staggering 269,602 in 2022, before declining to 139,032 in 2025. A similar exponential rise in high performers has consistently been observed at the HSC level, too.
All the while, one critical question lingered: what has improved in terms of teaching quality, curriculum, or assessment that could justify this exponential growth in the number of high performers? Many observers, however, argued that this hyper inflation of GPA-5 achievers was not a reflection of true academic excellence but rather a symptom of systemic grade manipulation. Their suspicions were officially confirmed this year when education board officials, while announcing the SSC results, openly admitted to having received instructions to grade students generously under the previous administration, only to paint a rosy picture of success.
This year, however, marked a stark departure from the past, as the interim government instructed the education authorities to publish results that genuinely reflect students' actual performance. This shift has been cited as the primary reason behind the dramatic fall in this year's success rate. The pass rate dropped to 68.45 per cent, the lowest in 15 years, while the number of GPA-5 achievers fell by 43,097 compared to the previous year.
While this positive move reflecting students' actual performance is a welcome development, steps must be taken to ensure that genuinely outstanding students can stand out from the crowd. Those who score the highest marks in their respective education boards are going unrecognised and unappreciated, and their outstanding performances are lost in a crowd of over a hundred thousand GPA-5 achievers.
Even at this year's rate, 10.62 per cent of SSC pass students secured the top grade of GPA-5. Of course, there is no harm if a large number of students legitimately reach the pinnacle of academic achievement. Considering the immense effort students invest, the tireless dedication of parents doing everything within their means to ensure quality education for their children, the long hours of intensive tutoring and the proliferation of coaching centers, it is understandable that a substantial number of students would attain GPA-5 compared to the initial years of the grading system.
But the problem arises when the system churns out more GPA-5 holders than the combined capacity of all public universities, engineering universities, and medical colleges in the country. Securing GPA-5 leads many students to overestimate their capabilities and become complacent, and parents are led to believe their children are among the very best. This illusion, however, is often short-lived as many of these "brilliant" GPA-5 holders fail to pass competitive university admission tests. If those with the highest possible secondary and higher secondary grades struggle to secure a spot at the nation's most reputed institutions, what hope is there for the vast majority who narrowly missed GPA-5, or those with an A or A-?
Of course, more GPA-5 and SSC and HSC pass students mean more students qualifying for admission in all private universities, which is good for their business and reputation. More tutoring, more coaching and more study aids have together turned learning and education into a thriving business. The supposedly bright students and the so-called great universities have kind of become commodities based on GPA where business, not education, is the central theme. The harsh reality, however, is that upon graduation, about 0.8 million students remain unemployed each year.
So, it's time to prioritise practical, skill-based learning through technical and vocational education. Simply churning out degree-holders who are unprepared for the job market serves neither the students nor the nation. So, to restore credibility and ensure fair assessment, the government might consider introducing standardised national tests - similar to the SAT in the United States or China's GAOKAO - as a benchmark for evaluating academic readiness beyond GPA scores.
