The number of candidates from scientific series on the 2025 baccalaureate exam was decreased. Only 16% of 166,400 candidates registered this year attend scientific series against 16.62% in 2024.
Examination of the 2025 baccalaureate already crystallizes the attention of state and academic authorities. Yesterday, the minister of Higher education, Research and Innovation, Abdourahmane Diouf, launched a national capacity building workshop of the presidents of jury which will be mobilized this year for the occasion. Organized in the premises of the Jean de la Fontaine de Dakar school group, this training spread over 5 days (from May 5 to 10, 2025) aims to guarantee a rigorous and modern organization of the national exam, said the minister. The presidents of jury will occasionally discuss the theme of “administrative and computer management of a baccalaureate jury” under the aegis of the Bac Office. The Minister of Higher Education took the opportunity to express his concerns in the face of the decline in the number of candidates of the scientific series for this examination. “These sectors represent only 16 % of the workforce in 2025, after reaching 16.62 % in 2024 and 16.39 % in 2023.
An observation which underlines the need to strengthen the attractiveness of the Stim (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) sectors among students, ”said Abdourahmane Diouf. This year, 166,400 candidates are registered for the exam, including 59.63 % of girls. They will be divided into 506 jury, 387 main centers, 92 secondary centers and 18 series, including 11 for scientific and technical sectors and 6 literary series. Analyzing these figures, the minister also deplored “a worrying decline in the technical baccalaureate. Only 2.07 % of the candidates were registered in 2025, compared to 2.14 % in 2024, 2.19 % in 2023 and 2.28 % in 2021, “said Abdourahmane Diouf who stresses that this corresponds to 3,446 registered for this session. “This drop has continued for four years, has been perceived as an obstacle to the development of national technical skills,” said the minister. He took the opportunity to invite the actors involved to a continuous remediation of the system.
The national director of the Baccalaureate Office, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Guèye, took the opportunity to underline some dysfunctions such as negligence in the filling of reports, absences from harmonization and follow -up meetings, among others. Mr. Guèye also mentioned the inconsistencies between the results transmitted by e-mail and those recorded on the USB keys. “These processing errors in an operation as crucial as the validation of exam results underline an organizational failure which could affect the credibility of the national assessment,” said the director of the Bac’s office. “Far from being a simple update of practices, the seminar is part of a continuous improvement approach, in the face of digital changes and the requirements of a powerful education system,” said Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Guèye. t
Daouda Diouf
