Bangladesh suspends SSC, equivalent exams over floods

The SSC general, vocational and Dakhil examinations, scheduled to start on Jun 19, have been suspended due to flooding in some districts, according to the Ministry of Education.

The revised schedule for the exams will be announced at a later date, according to a notice issued by the education minister’s office on Friday.

Sylhet, Sunamganj, and several other districts have experienced serious flooding in the past few days.

MA Khair, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education, said the decision had been taken after the flooding situation worsened in Bangladesh.

Over 2 million students were to sit for the SSC exams this year.

After two years of pandemic-induced curtailment of the tests, the government had planned to include all subjects in the exams. However, the exams were following the rearranged syllabus from 2020.

The SSC tests were to start on Jun 19 after a four-month delay due to the pandemic.

The SSC and HSC exams were held months behind schedule in November and December last year due to the pandemic following the resumption of in-person classes. The syllabuses were shortened, while the tests were held on three elective subjects only.

In 2020, the SSC exams were completed before the coronavirus cases were found in Bangladesh. Though the HSC exams were to be held in April, the pandemic shut educational institutions in March.

Instead of tests, the results of the HSC in 2020 were based on the student performances in Junior School Certificate and SSC exams.