Tribal students perform poorly in board exams across major states in India

Mumbai: Data shared by the ministry of tribal affairs with Rajya Sabha during the budget session 2023 of parliament shows that children from the historically-marginalised Adivasi communities struggle far more in board exams of some states than in others, Careers360 has reported.

According to the report, less than half the candidates, 49.54%, from Scheduled Tribes passed the Madhya Pradesh board Class 10 exam (MPBSE HSC) in 2020; for the Tripura board, the figure is even worse – 43.66%. 

In several states with sizable tribal populations, Class 10 board exam pass percentages hover around the halfway mark. These include Gujarat (55%), Assam (57.9%), and Meghalaya (52.68%). Similarly, in Class 12, Karnataka’s pre-university examination (PUE) saw an average of 58.74% of students from Scheduled Tribes clearing the exam; this was 59% in Tripura, 63.44% in Kerala and 64.5% in Orissa, shows the report.

The data from the ministry also shows that Adivasi students attending schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) recorded a significantly better pass percentage – than the state boards in Class 10 (87%) as well as Class 12 (86%) in 2020. Telangana is the only state where 100% of Adivasi students passed both Classes 10 and 12 in 2020. 

According to Careers360, the latest data is from 2020 when the covid-19 pandemic struck and several board exams were cancelled or the evaluation patterns altered.