Why are girls outperforming boys in school level public examinations in 21st Century?

With the advent of the technological era of 21st century, in most countries, girls are consistently outperforming boys in school level public examinations. In India, in the recently declared results of board examination, girls on an average have done far better than boys.

A table shared on social media in May 2025 reveals that 'girls outperformed boys by 5.94% with over 91% of the girls passing the examination'. The girls have shown better performance both on the mean score and pass percentage as compared to last year's standing.

According to ASER report of 2023, parental belief in encouraging and supporting girls to perform well is for both enhanced job opportunity and their enhanced acceptance as a better home-makers.

Even in the age, whenein a lot of technological gadgets are being marketed, far lesser girls are being attracted towards them since they have more multitasking responsibilities at home and make the best use of available time for more efforts in studies. On the other hand, boys are getting more distracted by technological gadgets and market-based consumerism leaving less time and diluted efforts for studies, said a female tutor in Jaipur adding that girls are more sober, focussed and diligent and thus have better achievement motives to prove themselves.

When afforded educational opportunities, due their better right-brain development they are able to memorize content well and get emotionally attached to learning and success to prove themselves. also, right-hemispheres of girls and their multitasking ability makes them effective learners. Thats why, som educators and psychologists are advocating the "Whole Brain Education" model to make education more inclusive and equitable for both boys or girls.

Also, there exist studies to show that unisex schools at secondary school level are producing equitable results since students are less distracted and kept disciplined due to biological changes in their bodies. Co-educational schools are tend to distract more the boys from studies, said a male teacher who had the experience of teaching in both types of school.

The achievement disparity among genders should be seen as a serious problem and classroom processes should be re-adjusted to become more accommodative, inclusive and equitable so that gender disparity ceases to exist.

It has seen that even at primary school level, girls often outperform boys in literacy and reading skills, while boys show a slight advantage in numeracy skills. The maths education even at primary level require reforms and till towards feminist pedagogy

Also, recent studies show that preference of subjects by girls at the senior secondary level and non-availability of science combinations with humanities and integrated STEM education at the secondary school level continues the underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM fields. Even at the senior school level the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary courses should be introduced