YANGON, March 6 (Xinhua) -- A total of 767,000 students have registered to sit for matriculation or university entrance examinations nationwide in Myanmar for the 2016-17 academic year which will end this month, according to the Department of Myanmar Board of Examinations Monday.
Of them, 114,000 students from state-run basic education high schools and private schools in the biggest city of Yangon have registered to take the nine-day examinations set for March 8 to 17, Yangon Region Education Office said, adding that 217 examination centers in 44 townships in the region will be open for the examinations.
In addition, 17 examination centers for 174 students residing abroad will also be opened, the sources said.
In the last academic year of 2015-16, over 671,670 students were registered to sit for the examinations conducted at 1,467 centers -- 1,451 within Myanmar and 16 abroad. The year's pass rate was lower by 7.68 percent as compared with the previous year with a total of 190,388 or 29.92 percent passing. Of them, 47,024 students passed with flying color to join the higher education institutions .
The passing score in 2015 was the highest over the previous three years, rated as 37.6 percent.
Students in Myanmar are set to sit for the matriculation examination before joining universities and high score in the exam are required for joining famous higher education institutions such as medical universities, technological universities, maritime university, Yangon University and Mandalay University.
After the end of the matriculation examinations, schools will be closed for summer holidays in the country until it is reopened in June, the start of rainy season.
