LAHORE: The recently released 9th-grade annual examination results in Punjab have depicted a dismal picture of the education department and the overall performance of public schools.
In the results, out of close to 380,000 candidates who appeared under various boards, only 45 per cent passed while 55 per cent failed.
Interestingly, the scenario was very bleak in Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat’s hometown village of Gulzar Jagir, where a total of 18 students sat for the exams but just one was declared successful.
The results not only point to the shortcomings in the education system but also put focus on the drive of accountability that was declared by the minister, who has promised to initiate the process from his constituency.
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The Lahore board recorded an overall pass rate of 45.08 per cent, the closest to the provincial average.
Faisalabad board obtained 51.55 per cent, with other boards registering analogous trends. The results were declared on August 20, 2025, highlighting the need for education reform on an emergent basis.
Rana Sikandar Hayat, who is on an official visit to the United States, released a forcefully worded statement on social media while posting an analysis of the results.
For the first time, the school education department is analysing grades 9 and 10 results in its entirety. Year on year, we have schools with ghastly results that cost Punjab billions with almost zero output.
We will make sure that such schools are penalised and personnel relieved of service. This is my team’s first time working on low-performing schools in Tehsil Pattoki, according to yesterday’s announced results.” I will start the accountability with schools in my constituency and hometown,” his statement said.
The minister further said that lists of schools and teachers with good performances are also being made, and they will be rewarded appropriately.
The statement has come at a time when his village, Gulzar Jagir in Tehsil Pattoki, has been in the news for dismal performance, where only one out of 18 students cleared the exam.
Speaking to Urdu News, local journalist Niaz Ahmed from NA-183 Phoolnagar constituency, said: “The schools across the education minister’s constituency have produced dismal results.
The minister’s native village, located 22 kilometres from the city, saw only one student pass. This situation is not just disappointing but raises questions: if this is the state of education in the minister’s area, what must conditions be like in the province’s far-flung regions?”
The dismal exam performance and the minister’s firm stance have created a firestorm on social media. While the large number of failures is worrying, the threats of accountability and incentives for performance are being viewed as the light at the end of the tunnel.
The Punjab government asserts that this review will serve to enhance the standards of education, but the most important question is: will it go beyond words and lead to actual change?
