Bangladesh suspends O, A Level exams amid COVID spike

The Ministry of Education has suspended the O and A Level examinations due to an uptick in coronavirus infections in the country.

The ministry’s Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education issued the order addressing the country director of the British Council’s Bangladesh unit on Tuesday.

The O and A Level exams for English Medium students were scheduled to begin in April.

The directive from the education ministry said public exams in all Bengali Medium schools and other mainstream education centres have been suspended with the safety of students and teachers in mind in light of the coronavirus situation.

“Currently, the United Kingdom and our neighbouring countries have decided not to hold the exams under the Cambridge curriculum due to the pandemic. All things considered, it does not seem reasonable to hold the exams in the country now and so authorities are requested not to hold O and A Level under the Cambridge Curriculum in April.

All schools and educational institutions, except Kawmi madrasas, have been closed since Mar 17 last year amid the pandemic, while all public exams were suspended in the meantime. The HSC results were assessed earlier this year by averaging each students’ JSC and SSC outcomes..

The pandemic also forced authorities to suspend exams for the May-June session last year. Later the ban was lifted to conditionally hold O and A Level exams in October and November.