SSC, equivalent exams begin Monday

The Secondary School Certificate and equivalent examinations under the nine education boards across the country will begin on Monday.

A total of 2,047,779 students of grade 10 have registered for the exams to be held at 3,512 centres.

The tests had been rescheduled due to Saraswati Puja and Dhaka city elections.

On Monday morning, the candidates of the general education boards will take Bangla first paper test. Dakhil candidates under the madrasa board will sit for Quran Majid and Tajbid test while the subject of test for vocational board students is Bangla second paper.

Education Minister Dipu Moni is scheduled to visit the Tejgaon Government Girls’ High School centre on the opening day.

The written exams of SSC and vocational boards will be held until Feb 27 and those of the Dakhil students will end on Mar 1. The practical examinations will be held from Feb 29 to Mar 5.

Students of 28,884 institutions have registered for the exams this year, the education minister said.

The number of SSC candidates is 1,635,240. Among them, 791,918 are boys and 843,322 girls.

A total of 281,254 will sit for Dakhil examinations and 131,285 for vocational tests.

As many as 361,325 irregular candidates and 282,594 special candidates will take the tests along with 1,681,688 regular examinees.

Besides them, 342 candidates will appear for SSC examinations at eight overseas centres.

The students will have to answer Multiple Choice Questions or MCQs first like previous years. Theoretical part will be taken after that.

Every candidate will have to enter the exam centres 30 minutes before the exam starts. If any candidate is allowed to enter after the scheduled time for any inevitable reason, their name, roll number, entry time, and the reason for delay will have to be sent to the education board.

The authorities will confirm set codes of question papers to the exam centre secretaries via SMS 25 minutes before the start in a bid to avoid leaks.

No one other than the secretaries will be allowed to enter the centres with mobile phones or any other electronic device.

Students with visual impairment or cerebral palsy and those who have no arms will be allowed to take help from scribes. They will also get 20 minutes extra time.

Autistic candidates will be allowed to take assistance from teachers, guardians or others designated as assistants. They will get 30 minutes extra.

The education minister has said the government took all sorts of steps to stop question paper leak. She has urged all related to the exams, especially the students and their guardians, not to pay attention to rumours of question paper leaks.