SSC, Dakhil exams begin

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC), Dakhil and SSC vocational examinations under 10 education boards across the country started this morning amid strict measures to prevent students from adopting unfair means.

The examinations commenced at 10:00am with the English First Paper.

A total of 10,63,484 regular and irregular students are taking the SSC and equivalent examinations in 1,888 centres under Dhaka, Rajshahi, Comilla, Jessore, Chittagong, Barisal, Sylhet, Dinajpur, madrasa, and technical education boards.

Seven more centres have also been set up in foreign countries for expatriate examinees.

The number of candidates for SSC and equivalent certificates is 50,183 more than last year's.

The Dhaka board has the highest number of 2.40,198 examinees, while the Sylhet board has the lowest number of candidates, which is 37,544.

Around 8.01 lakh students of 15,216 high schools are taking the SSC examinations under eight general education boards, 1.86 lakh students of 9,424 madrasas are sitting for the equivalent Dakhil examinations, and 75,057 students of 1,599 technical institutes are appearing for the SSC vocational examinations.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid has recently said that the examinations this year would be free of unfair means and any attempts to adopt such dishonest means would be handled sternly.

The authorities have taken measures to provide sufficient security and ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity at the examination centres, sources said.

Some 2.4 lakh students are sitting for the exams from the Dhaka Board, 1.14 lakh under Rajshahi Board, 88,523 under Comilla Board, 1.07 lakh under Jessore Board, 62,037 in Chittagong, 48,808 in Barisal and 1.02 lakh in Dinajpur, according to the education ministry.

This is the first ever SSC examinations being held under the Dinajpur board.

Under the madrasa board 1.86 lakh students are sitting for the Dakhil examinations and 75,057 for the SSC vocational exams under the technical education board.

Another 254 students are sitting for the examinations from seven overseas centres.