Female students outperformed their male counterparts marginally in this year's Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent exams, securing higher pass rates and more GPA-5 grades.

The pass rate of girls stood at 87.71 percent, while the pass rate of boys was 87.16 percent.

In total 2,69,602 students secured GPA-5 -- 1,48,446 girls and 1,21,156, which shows girls achieved 27,290 more GPA-5 grades than the boys.

A total of 17,43,619 students passed this year's exams -- 8,73,573 girls and 8,70,046 boys -- with girls outnumbering boys by 3,527.