SSC exams to start Sept 15, HSC exams in Nov: minister

Education Minister Dipu Moni says the Secondary School Certificate and equivalent examinations will start from Sept 15.

The government is also planning to hold the Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalent examinations in November, she said at a press conference on Sunday.

“We hope to start the SSC and Dakhil examinations on Jul 15,” the minister said. “The education boards will announce the full exam schedule soon.”

The government will finish handing out new textbooks to those examinees who had theirs damaged in floods in Sylhet and Sunamganj by Jul 24, Dipu Moni added.

“As we can get the books to flood-hit areas by Jul 24, we were planning to hold the exams in August. However, there is a chance of more flooding in August. As such, we will hold the SSC, Dakhil and equivalent exams on Sept 15.”

Asked whether the syllabus for the exams would change, she said:

“The syllabus will stay the same as the one for the exams scheduled on Jun 19. The examinees should not expect the gaps between exams to be particularly long. We will schedule them so that there are no issues for students.”

Coaching centres must remain shut during the exams as usual, the minister said.

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

But the government decided to suspend the tests after Sylhet, Sunamganj, and several other districts experienced serious flooding in June.

Authorities suspended classes in more than 5,000 educational institutions across 18 districts due to the inundation, and also used the schools and colleges to shelter the flood victims.

This derailed the studies of as many as 575,000 pupils only at the secondary level.

Over 2 million students are preparing to take the exams this year. Among them, 23,752 are in the flood-hit district of Sunamganj and 43,844 in Sylhet.