The Class XII results declared by the Punjab School Education Board on Wednesday exposed a worrying trend in language learning, with thousands of students failing in English and Punjabi despite the overall pass percentage standing at 91.46 per cent. The development has raised concerns among educationists over students’ weakening grasp of core subjects.
Board data revealed that 12,459 students failed in English this year — the highest among all major subjects. A total of 2,65,417 students appeared in the examination, out of whom 2,52,958 passed, taking the pass percentage in the subject to 95.30 per cent. Last year, 10,274 students had failed in English.
The results once again highlighted students’ persistent struggle with English, particularly in government and government-aided schools, where weak language foundations continue to affect academic performance.
What surprised many, however, was the number of students failing in Punjabi, the mother tongue of the state. As many as 3,791 students failed in Punjabi General, while another 1,361 students could not clear the Punjabi Elective examination. In Punjabi General, 2,65,040 students appeared and 2,61,249 passed.
History also proved to be a challenging subject. Of the 1,15,086 students who appeared in the subject, 7,260 failed, while 1,07,826 cleared the examination.
In contrast, subjects traditionally considered difficult recorded improved performances this year. Mathematics saw only 753 failures against 1,116 last year. Out of 40,260 students who appeared in the subject, 39,507 passed.
Political Science also witnessed improvement, with 738 students failing compared to 1,361 last year.
Economics recorded one of the best performances, with only 424 students failing the examination.
Vikram Dev Singh, president of the Democratic Teachers Front, said English had remained a major challenge for students over the years and stressed the need to remove the fear associated with the subject.
He said the failure of thousands of students in Punjabi was equally alarming as it reflected declining comfort levels among students in their mother tongue.
He demanded that vacant teaching posts in government and government-aided schools be filled at the earliest to improve academic standards.
Meanwhile, Urdu recorded a perfect result for the second consecutive year, with all 148 students who appeared in the subject passing the examination. In Sanskrit, only six students failed.
