Over 300,000 students get seats in school through digital admission lottery

Of them, 107,521 students have secured places at 689 government schools

A total of 305,499 students have been selected for admission to grades 1 to 9 in government and private secondary schools across metropolitan areas and district and Upazila headquarters through this year’s digital lottery.

Of them, 107,521 students have secured places in 689 government schools, while 197,978 students have been picked for admission to 3,360 private schools.

The digital lottery began on Thursday morning at a programme at the International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka’s Segunbagicha.

After the process ended around 2:45pm, Yunus Farooqui, member secretary of the Dhaka Metropolitan Admission Committee and deputy director at the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, announced the numbers.

He said preparations would now begin for two waiting lists.

Results are available on the designated website and through SMS via Teletalk.

14,000 SEATS LEFT VACANT IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

A total of 719,858 students applied for 121,596 seats in government schools. After the lottery picked 107,521 students, 14,075 seats remain vacant.

OVER 800,000 SEATS VACANT IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Private schools had 1,072,917 seats on offer, but received only 336,196 applications. With 197,978 students selected, 843,160 seats are still vacant.

ADMISSIONS BEGIN ON DEC 17

Students chosen in the lottery can complete admission formalities between Dec 17 and 21, Yunus said.

Admissions from the first waiting list will run from Dec 22 to 24, and from the second waiting list between Dec 27 and 30.

Although Education Advisor Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar was announced as the chief guest, he did not attend the central lottery event.

The government-school lottery was inaugurated by Additional Secretaries Md Shahjahan Mia and Begum Badrun Nahar from the Ministry of Education.

Later, Additional Secretary Md Mizanur Rahman launched the lottery process for private schools.

At 2:45pm, state-owned operator Teletalk Bangladesh handed over the results to the admission committee.

The lottery system was first introduced in 2020, during the pandemic, by the then Awami League government to ease pressure on students and curb the coaching business.

It has been followed every year since.