But the overall picture is not that rosy as the number of unsuccessful candidates has also gone up. This is a reflection on the education system at the SSC level, particularly in the rural areas where as many as 248 educational institutions have had a zero success rate. That's indeed cause for concern and a clear indication of the ever-widening gap in the standard of education between the good schools in the urban areas and the neglected ones located outside the cities and towns. This is a problem that has to be addressed in right earnest if we want to establish uniformity in school level education.

It is sad and worrisome news that more than eight lakh students have dropped out of the SSC level in the last two years. The figure itself makes it amply clear that the existing system is highly lopsided, with the less privileged students finding it increasingly difficult to stay afloat. Most of them can neither attend the so-called good schools, nor can they seek the services of coaching centres. Their problem is compounded by the fact that most of the schools, even the government-run ones, don't have qualified teachers. Dependable classroom teaching appears to have become a thing of the past -- much to the disadvantage of students belonging to poor, lower middle and middle class families.

The standard of teaching in the rural and semi-urban schools has to be raised to a satisfactory level not only to ensure uniformity of standards across the board but also to remove the disparity between privileged and under-privileged students in terms of accessing school education. Any failure in this respect will lead to repetition of the same spectacle -- more GPA-5 achievers alongside swelling ranks of unsuccessful candidates. The decision-makers can ill afford to remain oblivious of the distortions in the existing system.