This year’s Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations under the country's 9 general education boards, the Bangladesh Technical Education Board, and the Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board will begin simultaneously across the country on Thursday.
A total of 1,270,583 examinees will take part in the examinations at 2,697 centres covering 9,439 educational institutions.
Education and Primary and Mass Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon shared details of the arrangements at a press conference at the Ministry of Education at the Secretariat on Wednesday.
Prime Minister's education adviser Mahdi Amin, chairpersons of different education boards, and senior officials were also present.
The minister said all nine general education boards will, for the first time, hold the examinations using uniform question papers.
To strengthen monitoring, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have been made mandatory at all examination centres.
A CCTV monitoring cell has also been established at the Ministry of Education to monitor examination centres across the country in real time.
Police officers assigned to examination centre security will wear body cameras to help prevent cheating and other untoward incidents.
The examinations will cover 77 subjects over 21 examination days.
The minister said regular classes will continue at educational institutions on days when examinations are not scheduled.
He also said examination centres previously identified for cheating have been cancelled. However, some remote centres have been retained to accommodate examinees from haor areas, the Chittagong Hill Tracts and remote char regions.
Special arrangements have also been made for examinees from the Seventh-day Adventist community. Their Saturday examinations will be held after dusk inside examination centres.
According to the ministry, under the 9 general education boards, 1,186,461 students enrolled in Class XI during the 2024-25 academic session. Of them, 794,477 completed examination registration forms, while 391,984 did not. The non-registration rate stands at 33.4%.
Under the Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board, 139,929 students enrolled in the first year of Alim during the 2024-25 academic session. Of them, 78,269 completed examination registration forms, while 61,660 did not, resulting in a non-registration rate of 44.7%.
Under the Bangladesh Technical Education Board, 165,542 students enrolled in Class XI (Vocational) during the 2024-25 academic session. Of them, 75,197 completed examination registration forms, while 90,345 did not. The non-registration rate stands at 54.58%.
