Mon State Boasts Country’s Highest Matriculation Exam Pass Rate
The state’s pass rate for the 2018-2019 academic year was over 37 percent.
By NETWORK MEDIA GROUP (NMG)
Sunday, June 9, 2019
Mon State had the highest percentage of students who passed Burma’s high school matriculation exam for the 2018-2019 academic year, according to education officials.
High school examination results for hundreds of thousands of students were declared throughout the country on June 8.
Some 28,821 students took the examination in 62 Mon State examination centers; 10,819 students passed, putting the pass rate at just over 37.5 percent.
Even though nearly two-thirds of students failed the exam, according to Mon State’s education department, it remains highest success rate in the country for this school year.
“Mon State got the first position with a 37.54 pass percentage. The passing rate has increased since last year,” Daw Lae Lae Kyi, deputy director of Mon State’s education department, told NMG.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, Mon State was ranked as having the third-highest exam pass rate in the country, the deputy director said.
However, this year, the number of high school students receiving distinctions in Mon State decreased. In 2018, some 3,094 students received distinctions in anywhere from one to six subjects. This number was more than halved to 1,499 in 2019.
Mudon Township had the highest rate of students passing the matriculation exam out of Mon State’s 10 townships this year at just over 52 percent. Thanbyuzayat came in second with 45 percent, and Mawlamyine third with 44.93 percent.
Nationally, Mandalay followed Mon State with an overall pass rate of 36.13 percent, and Sagaing Region came in third with 34.15 percent.
Prior to 2018, Mon State also earned the distinction of being the state with the highest high school passing rate in both 2016 and 2017. It came in second place in 2015, but before that, the state also came in first for the six consecutive years before.
Students who pass the matriculation exam in Burma—offered once a year—can go on to apply for university entrance. However, many of those working in education reform have criticized the current exam system as reinforcing rote learning and memorization rather than developing critical thinking skills.
