Dhaka, July 2 – The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and similar exams commenced nationwide on Thursday, featuring more than 1.27 million students taking part through 11 educational boards.
The HSC examinations started at 10 o'clock in the morning, featuring the First Paper of Bangla on the initial day.
Approximately 9,439 schools will have their students taking exams at 2,697 centers managed by the nation's nine main education authorities, including the Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board and the Bangladesh Technical Education Board.
There will be 77 topics assessed across 21 test days.
The Secretary of the Secondary and Higher Education Division, Abdul Khaleque, updated journalists regarding the examinations at the Secretariat on Wednesday.
Standard lessons will proceed at schools and colleges on dates without assessment activities.
Out of all the applicants, 6,21,969 are men and 648,614 are women across the nine general education boards, where the number of female participants exceeds that of males by 26,645.
This year, all nine general education councils will administer tests with a standardized collection of questions.
Closed-circuit television cameras have been placed at every testing center, with a centralized surveillance unit established at the Ministry of Education to monitor exam operations in real-time throughout the nation.
There are 1,069,714 applicants taking exams through the nine general education authorities this year, marking a rise of 14,316 compared to the previous year.
The count of involved organizations has gone up by 77, whereas the total of testing centers has increased by 21.
The Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board reports 92,905 examinees this year, an increase of 6,803 compared to the previous year. The total number of schools affiliated with the board has risen by 23, along with an addition of two exam centers.
In the meantime, the Bangladesh Technical Education Board has 107,964 applicants, which is 1,647 less compared to the previous year.
The total number of testing centers managed by the board has decreased by 123, reaching 610.