The Grade 12 National Education Board (NEB) results are out, and the pass percentage is nothing to celebrate. With just 51 percent of the students earning passing grades, almost half of those who appeared for the exams have been disqualified from upgrading to the university level. Of the 372,637 students who appeared for the final exams, 189,711 (around 51 percent) got a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 1.6 or above, while a whopping 182,926 have been non-graded and therefore disqualified for further education. A significant number of the non-graded students have the option of appearing for the re-examinations to be held on September 23 and 24, after which the overall pass percentage will rise. However, almost half the students could not pass their exams on their first attempt, pointing to a systemic failure in Nepal’s higher secondary education system.

The dismal performance of the students is a body blow to the universities that are already facing a student crunch, thanks to the exodus of a significant section of those who make it through the higher secondary level board exams. Moreover, the failure is a gross devaluation of the financial and human resources put into educating the students. Whose failure is it? Technically, the students got their answers wrong. But the question why they didn't do well in the exams is more ethical than pedagogical. And so, more than the students, other influential stakeholders in Nepal’s education system have some explanation to do.

To get the narrative in its favour, the board might bask in the glory of raising the pass percentage to 51 percent this year, three points higher than last year’s figure. Officials might also glorify the minuscule improvement in the students’ performances, as more have gotten better grades compared to last year. But they cannot get away with such excuses, as the results have laid bare the systemic problems in the education system. That 109,527 students have failed in English shows how the “Ghost of English” is real and that the authorities should urgently focus on upgrading teaching-learning resources in the language.

Resource, though, is just one of the many problems facing Nepal’s fledgling higher secondary education. The failure stems from lack of commitment among authorities to buttress the education system while letting go of their centrist egos. The lack of a federal education act, even after eight years of implementation of federalism, is one structural problem that needs to be resolved immediately, as the local levels have been given the right but not the means to oversee higher secondary education.

Rather than bring the much-needed Federal Education Act, the government seems to be interested in reviving the centrist District Education Offices through the Education Bill. The unnecessary establishment of the Education Development and Coordination Units, as the constituent bodies of the federal government, undercuts the very idea of federalism. The centre’s desire to dictate the terms of high school education across the country is one reason why the education system is in the doldrums today.

This is not to disregard secondary factors such as the lack of an updated curriculum and the failure of individual schools to equip their students and teachers with resources for top-class teaching-learning practices. However, the problems created by a flawed structure cannot be addressed by ad-hoc remedies. The authorities must, therefore, consider the discouraging results a reflection of their own failure and work to improve them.