After being rescheduled twice, the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations finally began yesterday across the country amid the indefinite blockade imposed by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
The examinations, which were scheduled to begin on February 2 but were deferred until February 4 and then again until yesterday because of the general strike imposed by the BNP, began at 9am.
SSC examinees took Bangla first paper test, while Dakhil students took Qur’an Majid and Tazbid test and students of the technical education board took Bangla 2 exams in two shifts.
The second day’s exams scheduled for Wednesday were also rescheduled for today, and will be held from 10am to 1pm.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, after visiting the exam centre at Azimpur Girls School and College in Dhaka, said he was optimistic that the BNP would impose no more strikes during the exams.
“Students are taking the tests smoothly across the country and no untoward situation has been reported anywhere,” he told reporters.
Even though RAB, police, BGB were deployed to avoid any unwanted situation, parents said they were still worried about the safety of their children in such a turbulent situation.
The majority of the parents avoided bus, and used CNG-run autorickshaws and rickshaws to take examinees to test centres.
Almost every student arrived at the exam centre accompanied by his parents and some of his relatives in light of security concerns, and also returned home with them after the exam.
Sabbir, a student of Udayan Higher Secondary School, said he was satisfied with his performance in the first exam, but was worried about when all the tests would be over.
MA Hamid, who was waiting for his daughter outside Azimpur Girls School and College, said the safety of students was still a cause for concern despite initiatives taken by the law enforcement agencies.
“Because of the present situation in the political arena, we are very anxious about the safety of the examinees,” he said.
According to a report published on the website of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka, yesterday, a total of 1,363,065 examinees out of 1,370,342 took the first day’s tests at 3,037 exam centres under 10 education boards.
The number of expelled examinees was 19 while 7,277 were absent in the first day’s exams, said the report signed by Professor Md Abu Bakkar Siddik, chairman of the board.
