When the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination begins on March 31, it will see a record high number of girls taking the tests in 81 years history of the national board exam. 

The number of girls appearing in the SLC exam is 1,477 more than boys in the SLC exam this year. 

Girls had outnumbered boys last year for the first time with 998 more girl examinees than boy examinees taking the exam, the trend is expected to continue for a decade as enrollment of girls is higher than that of boys at all school levels.

According to data from the Office of the Controller of Examination, out of 456,133 students taking part in the regular category from both general and technical streams, 228,805 are girls. 

The numbers of girls, however, is lower than boys under the technical category, as only 1,270 of the total 3,242 examinees are girls. The government introduced the technical stream in SLC exam last year. 

The total number of examinees this year stands at 615,553, including 159,417 from the exempted category, which is 7.17 percent more compared to 2015. Those who fail in more than two subjects in previous examination are listed as exempted examinees.

“Girls enrolment has increased in all levels. We hope girls will outnumber boys even in the technical category,” said Anupam Chandra Shrestha, deputy examination controller. 

Data from the Department of Education (DoE) suggests that more girls have enrolled than boys in all levels of school. According to the DoE, the number of girls currently in grade nine, who will be sitting for the SLC exam next year, stands at 256,636, which is 8,988 more than the number of boys. 

Girls account for 50.6 percent of the total enrolment in lower secondary level and 50.7 in primary level. 

And at 73.3 percent, girls have better survival rate up to grade 8 against 72.1 percent for the boys.

The increase in number of girls appearing in the final examination is the result of an impressive progress in gender parity at school, according to a report of the DoE. 

The Gender Parity Index at primary level has reached 1.03 and 1.02 both at the lower secondary at secondary levels, meaning girls’ enrollment is higher than boys in all levels. 

The government scheme of scholarship to 50 percent of girls, increase in the number of female teachers, separate toilets for the girls too are contributing factors for the increase.