Ministry of Education has released the results of this year's 12th-grade national exam, revealing a marginal improvement in student performance. Still, only 5.4pc of the 674,823 students who took the exam achieved a passing score. Private schools in Addis Abeba dominated the top scores in both natural sciences and social sciences. The highest score in natural sciences was 575 while the highest score in social sciences was 538, achieved by girls from Cathedral and Ethio Parents school, respectively. The exam was scored out of 600 in all regions except Tigray Regional State, where a top score of 675 was achieved from 700. Natural sciences emerged as the top-performing subject, with nine percent of students passing, while only two percent passed the social sciences exam. Minister of Education Berhanu Nega (Prof) announced the results last week, stating that 1,363 schools reported no passing students. This year marked the third time the government has administered the national exam, with approximately eight percent of students taking it online. While the results are "frustrating", they represent an improvement over previous years when only 3.3pc of students scored above 50pc.