Some 1.2 million students are sitting for the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent exams after a seven-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic and floods.
The exams kicked off at 11:00 am on Sunday at 2,649 centres across the country. Education Minister Dipu Moni visited Dhaka’s Begum Badrunnesa Government Girls College for an inspection ahead of the exams.
The nine general education boards are holding the Bangla first paper test on Sunday, the madrasa board is holding the Quran Majid exam, and the technical board is having its Bangla test, reports bdnews24.com.
Similar to the SSC exams this year, the HSC exams are being held in two shifts, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, and 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
The theoretical exams will continue until December 13 and the practical exams will be held from December 15 to Dec 22.
A total of 1.23 million higher secondary students are sitting for the tests, with 622,796 male students and 580,611 female students.
Last year, 1.37 million students sat for higher secondary exams.
This year, 985,713 students from 4,647 educational institutions are sitting for exams at 1,528 examination centres, 94,763 are sitting for exams under the madrasa board at 448 centres, and 122,931 are sitting for exams under the technical board at 673 examination centres.
Of the general education board students, 240,506 are in the science subject grouping, 557,671 are in the humanities subject grouping, and 187,536 are in the business subject grouping.
The HSC exams this year, like last year, are on a reduced syllabus with a lower overall test score and more limited time than prior to the pandemic.
Of the two hours set for each exam, students will have 20 minutes for multiple-choice questions and one hour and 40 minutes for creative and essay-style questions.
This year’s exam schedule includes the Bangla and English exams, three subjects based on a student’s subject grouping, and one optional subject.
