Bihar has been a major centre of learning and home to one of the oldest universities of India dating back to the fifth century and the tradition of learning which had its origin from ancient times was lost during the medieval period when it is believed that marauding armies of the invaders destroyed these centres of learning.
Bihar saw a revival during the later part of the British rule when they established a university at Patna along with other centres of high learning, namely, Science College, Patna, Prince of Wales Medical College (Now Patna Medical College and Hospital), and Bihar Engineering College (Now National Institute of Technology, Patna). This early lead was lost in the post-independence period when the politicians from Bihar lost out in the race of getting centers of education established in Bihar.National institutes of learning such as IIT, IIM and AIIMS, IISER, NISER had a good representation from Bihar. A survey by Pratham[1] rated the absorption of their teaching by the Bihar children better than those in other states. According to the government, out-of-school rate in the age group 6-14 was 6.3% in 2007, a big drop from 12.8 per cent in 2006.[2]
After a series of reforms and steps taken by BSEB such as interviewing toppers before releasing results, the pass percentage has increased considerably. In 2020, 80.44% students who had appeared for class 12 BSEB examination were declared passed. Similarly, for class 10, the pass percentage for 2020 examination improved to 80.59%. To increase the pass percentage, the pattern of examination was also changed with MCQs playing a key role in this improvement.[citation needed]