The Directorate of Higher Secondary Education (DHSE) Kerala announced the Plus Two examination results for 2026 on Tuesday, revealing that girls once again achieved a significantly higher pass percentage than boys across the state. General Education Minister N Shamsudheen unveiled the results following the completion of the evaluation process for Class 12 students from Kerala, Lakshadweep, and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
Overall Performance Sees Slight Increase
This year, over 4.25 lakh students appeared for the examinations conducted across 2,005 schools under the Higher Secondary Education system. In the regular category, 3,72,423 students took the exam, of whom 2,09,398 became eligible for higher education. The overall pass percentage stood at 77.97 per cent, slightly higher than last year's 77.81 per cent.
Girls Continue to Outperform Boys
The most striking pattern in the results remained the gender gap. Girls recorded a pass percentage of 86.89 per cent, while boys achieved only 68.41 per cent. This difference of more than 18 percentage points continues a consistent trend seen in Kerala's higher secondary results over the years. The gap also appeared across all streams.
Science Stream Records Highest Pass Percentage
Science remained the highest-performing stream with a pass percentage of 84.52 per cent. Commerce followed with 74.74 per cent, while Humanities was the lowest-performing stream at 66.38 per cent.
Evaluation Conducted Across Multiple Regions
The examinations were conducted across centres in Kerala, Lakshadweep, and GCC nations under the supervision of DHSE, with evaluation carried out through a standardised assessment process. While the overall pass percentage has seen a marginal increase this year, the continuing difference in performance between girls and boys remains one of the clearest trends in Kerala's higher secondary results.
Students who cleared the examination will now move towards undergraduate admissions and professional course counselling processes within Kerala and outside the state.
