Taking a closer look at the results of the High School Leaving Certificate 2025 examination declared on Friday, one finds that as many as 1,52,266 candidates have failed. This is a serious matter, especially when the overall pass percentage of the same examination in the past two years was much higher. While finding a way to accommodate all the 2.70 lakh successful candidates in the next phase of education is difficult, equally challenging will be the task of finding the way forward for this huge chunk of so-called unsuccessful candidates. Not that all of them would want to sit for the examination again. Many of them had somehow managed to take the examination in 2025, and their families would not have the resources to help them take the examination once again. In plain simple terms, these 2.70 lakh young unfortunate boys and girls are like drop-outs. In many cases, it is not for any fault of theirs that they could not scrape through; on the contrary, in the teachers of many of the schools (particularly where the percentage of unsuccessful candidates is high), it is the teachers who are to be held responsible. The education department already has a list; most such schools are government schools, where teachers get fat salaries in comparison to those working hard for the students in private schools. Right now, while taking punitive steps against teachers of such schools should be one priority, pulling up the Inspectors of Schools and holding them accountable could also be one important measure that may be taken. It is a reality that the so-called inspectors and deputy inspectors in the education department, who draw fat salaries and are also often accused of malpractices and corruption, have hardly gone out to inspect the different educational institutions under their jurisdiction. As far as the unsuccessful candidates are concerned, a survey will show that many of them would have one skill or the other, which can make them eligible and fit for various kinds of skill training.