Regular SSC candidates to face shortened syllabus, full version for irregulars, repeaters

The move comes after students shifted mid-course from the scrapped new curriculum back to the 2012 syllabus

Next year’s Secondary School Certificate and equivalent examinations will be held on a shortened syllabus for regular students, while irregular and candidates seeking to improve scores will be assessed on the full curriculum.

Prof SM Kamal Uddin Haider, controller of examinations and convenor of the Inter-Education Board Examination Regulatory Committee, said students who will sit for next year’s SSC had studied a new curriculum in grade nine that was later scrapped.

“Since September, they have been following the 2012 curriculum in grade 10. As a result, regular candidates will face exams on a shortened syllabus,” he said on Tuesday.

The decision was announced in a circular issued to the heads of all secondary-level institutions under the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka.

The division of streams in grades 9 and 10, which was dropped under the Awami League’s new curriculum, is being reinstated after the syllabus was scrapped on Sept 1, 2024.

In the circular issued on that day announcing the cancellation of the curriculum, the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education of the education ministry announced that the 2026 SSC and equivalent exams would be held in a shortened syllabus.

The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) published the shortened syllabus, question patterns, and mark distribution for the 2026 SSC exam on Dec 28, 2024, bringing back the stream division.

A revised syllabus was published on Jan 2 with changes to the Bengali subject.