The Shan State Education Department announced that fewer students have passed their matriculation exams for the 2019 to 2020 academic years compared to previous years.

In Shan State, more than 60,000 high school students took their matriculation exam, and over 16,000 students passed, Win Maung, the head of Shan State Education Department, told SHAN. The percentage of students who passed was 27.27.

Tabulating rates for only southern Shan State, Win Maung said 26.28 percent passed compared with 27.69 percent for previous years. The success rate dropped 1.4 percent from previous academic years.

“There weren’t any students from Shan State in the country’s top ten this year. During the last academic year, some students made it in the top ten for the country.”

Win Maung said how well students perform depends on their ability and, of course, their teachers.

Yet, despite the overall lower matriculation rates, there were eight students in Shan State who earned distinctions in all six subjects, 40 in five subjects, 102 in four subjects, 302 in three subjects, 3576 in two subjects, and 1,948 in one subject.

Nang Seng Hom, who received distinctions in three subjects, told SHAN she didn’t expect to do so well, although she studied regularly. At university, she plans to study nursing.

Matriculation examinations were held in 19 states and regions in Burma. Mandalay had the highest passing percentage at 37.51 percent. Sagaing Region finished second with 35.17 percent. Northern Shan State ranked 8th nationally, southern Shan State placed 16th, and eastern Shan State finished 19th overall.

Classes for 2020-2021 resumed on July 21 as part of the country’s easing of the partial lockdown enacted in April in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.