A total of 6,828 examinees were absent while seven were expelled for cheating as the first Secondary School Certificate and its equivalent test was held across the country on Monday.
An invigilator was also expelled for helping candidates unfairly in the exam.
Five candidates of the vocational board, one from madrasa board and one from Jessore board were expelled, according to the Education Ministry.
The number of students absent at exam venues under Dhaka board was 847. It was 510 in Comilla board, 423 in Jessore board, 279 in Chittagong board, 252 in Sylhet board, 250 in Barisal board and 306 in Dinajpur board.
Last year, 7,277 candidates were absent in the first day's exam.
A total of 1,651,523 students from 28,119 educational institutions across the country have registered for this year's exams.