— Côte d’Ivoire has reported a national pass rate of 40.60 percent for the 2026 Baccalaureate examination, with 122,360 students successfully earning the country’s secondary school diploma.
About 301,364 candidates took the 2026 national exam.
The official results were released on Monday by the “Direction des Examens et Concours” (DECO), the Ivorian government agency responsible for organizing national examinations.
According to the statistics, female candidates outperformed their male counterparts in this year’s session. Girls achieved a pass rate of 42.24 percent, while boys recorded a success rate of 38.90 percent.
Among the participants, 153,534 were girls and 147,830 were boys.
Of the successful candidates, 64,853 were girls, which constitutes more than half of all students who passed the examination. In comparison, 57,507 boys were declared successful, reinforcing the trend of stronger academic performance among female candidates.
The Baccalaureate, commonly referred to as the “Bac,” is Côte d’Ivoire’s national secondary school leaving examination and serves as the primary qualification for admission to universities and other institutions of higher learning in the West African nation.
Education officials are expected to conduct further analyses of the results in the coming weeks to identify factors influencing student performance and to guide future improvements in the country’s education system.
Liberia Public Radio correspondent in Abidjan said the publication of these results marks the conclusion of the 2026 examination session and allows successful candidates to begin the university admissions process.
