Girls trouncing male classmates in traditional boys’ subjects

London -  Girls are beating their male classmates in fields, that were considered traditionally as ‘boys’ subject ’ like engineering, official figures have revealed.

Just 17 percent of boys achieve the top grade in BTECs in business at level two – the equivalent of a GCSE at A* to C – compared with 28 percent for girls.

In construction, more than twice as many girls as boys gained a distinction - 18 percent against seven per cent.

In engineering, 28 percent of girls got the top grade – as compared to 16 percent of boys.

A similar trend was seen at level three, the equivalent of an A-level.

“I hope these figures will give more girls the confidence to see careers in business, construction and engineering as within their reach,” the Daily Mail quoted Rod Bristow, the president of exam board Edexcel’s owner Pearson, as saying.

“A learner’s gender should never influence the subjects they study, nor be treated as an indicator as to how well they will perform,” he said. 

The figures showed that the number of girls taking traditionally male dominant subjects remains relatively small.

The girls opt for just 42 percent of business courses at level two - and only six percent of engineering courses.

The figures have emerged just days after politicians called for urgent action tackling the gender gap in reading.

MPs and peers from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Literacy said that boys were struggling to develop a love of reading during primary education.

They blamed a shortage of male teachers and an anti-book culture among male role models.

The group concluded that schools needed to stock more books that could capture the imagination of male pupils.

They also called for men to be drafted into school to act as reading mentors for boys.