Over 100,000 students skip college admission applications despite passing SSC exams

College inspector Md Riazul Haque says whether any student dropped out can only be determined after the admission process ends

More than 100,000 students who passed the Secondary School Certificate and equivalent exams this year have not applied for the eleventh grade admission.

That is excluding the 101,000 students who passed from the technical stream.

On Wednesday, Md Riazul Haque, college inspector of the Dhaka Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, said applications to technical institutions were not counted in the central data.

This year, 1.07 million students have applied for admission to colleges and madrasas at the higher secondary level, falling well short of the 1.3 million who passed the Secondary School Certificate and equivalent exams.

“Some students may have applied there. But every year, there is always a section of students who do not apply,” Riazul said.

Asked why so many had not applied, he pointed to missionary-run colleges such as Notre Dame and Holy Cross, which conduct their own entrance exams.

Students targeting those institutions might have skipped the central process, he said, adding that the second and third phases of application remain open.

“The reasons will be analysed after the full admission process ends,” he said. “Only then will it be clear whether any students are dropping out. Once we receive overall data from the technical board and enrolment figures from colleges and madrasas, we can determine if any students remain outside.”

The results of the first phase of admissions will be published on Wednesday night, Riazul confirmed.

This year, 1.90 million students sat the SSC and equivalent exams from 30,088 institutions, with 1.303 million passing. Of them, a million passed under the nine general education boards, 195,000 under the madrasa board and 101,000 under the technical board.