43 expelled, 19,500 absent on first day of HSC, equivalent exams

The highest number of expulsions have occurred during the Alim exam

On the first day of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent exams, 43 candidates were expelled over “cheating” and 19,759 recorded as absent across the country.

According to the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee, the HSC exam on Thursday started with the Bangla First Paper, Alim with Quran Majeed, and vocational, BMT and Diploma-in-Commerce streams with Bangla-2.

A total of six candidates were expelled from the Bangla First Paper exam under nine general education boards, where 932,790 students were scheduled to appear in 1,608 centres. From 1,599 reporting centres, only 918,277 attended, while 14,513 were absent.

Expulsions were reported as follows: three under Comilla Board, and one each under Rajshahi, Barishal and Mymensingh boards.

By board, the highest number of absentees were in Dhaka, where 3,326 from 295 centres did not show up.

In Rajshahi, 1,867 were absent, 2,428 in Cumilla, 1,638 in Jashore, 1,230 in Chattogram, 824 in Sylhet, 1,029 in Barishal, 1,291 in Dinajpur, 880 in Mymensingh.

In the Alim stream under the Madrasah Education Board, 24 examinees were expelled during the Quran Majeed exam, while 4,196 were absent out of 84,317 registered across 459 centres.

The vocational, BMT and Diploma-in-Commerce exams under the Technical Education Board also saw 13 expulsions and 1,050 absentees from 733 centres where 98,924 candidates were expected.

This year, 1.25 million candidates registered under 11 education boards for the HSC and equivalent exams -- down by 81,882 from last year.

The exams are being held on full marks and full duration, following the shortened 2023 syllabus, which has been retained for the 2025 session.