The scholarship examination for primary school students will be held in December this year.
On Thursday, the Directorate of Primary Education issued a letter in this regard to all Upazila Primary Education Officers across the country.
After the introduction of the Primary Education Completion (PEC) examination in 2009, the scholarship exam was discontinued.
Although a decision was made in 2022 to reinstate it, the exam was not held.
Instead, the government opted to award scholarships through an alternative process.
Under this system, meritorious students were granted merit-based scholarships, while stipends continued to be provided to students from underprivileged backgrounds.
After a long interval, the current interim government is taking steps to reintroduce the formal scholarship examination.
According to the letter sent to the Upazila Primary Education officers, the examination is tentatively scheduled to take place on December 21, 22, 23 and 24.
Students will be assessed in four subjects: Bangla, English, Primary Mathematics and a combined paper on Bangladesh and Global Studies and Primary Science.
The latter two subjects will be evaluated together, with 50% weight assigned to each.
Students from government primary schools, PTI-affiliated demonstration schools and primary sections attached to government secondary schools will be eligible to participate.
Participation will be mandatory for all government primary schools and PTI-affiliated demonstration schools.
Based on the evaluation of the first terminal examination, up to 40% of fifth-grade students from each institution may take part in the scholarship exam.
