HSC exams begin today

Staff Reporter :
The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations will begin today (Sunday) across the country under 11 education boards and with all preparations to prevent question paper leak.
A total of 12, 03,407 examinees will sit for the exams. The first examination is Bangla First Paper, the Education Ministry said. Of the total examinees, 6, 22,796 are males and 5,80,611 are females.
The examinations will be held in 2,649 centres ending on December 13.
Last year a total of 13,99,690 examinees attended the test. Compared with this year’s examinees, a total of 1,96,283 students declined.
“The number of examinees has decreased mainly due to the decrease of irregular examinees,” Dr Dipu Moni said in a press conference on October 19.
The Minister at that time said that the government had taken various measures to hold the exams free from any question paper leak.
All the coaching centers across the country have been closed for 42 days from November 3 to December 14 during the exams.
As per the board instructions, the students must enter the examination halls at least 30 minutes before the beginning of the examination.
In case of any unavoidable reasons, the student’s roll number, time of entry, reason for delay etc, should be written in a register and reported to the concerned education board on the same day, the Ministry said.
However, the ministry has reduced the marks and duration of the examinations this year.
Examinees of the science department have to answer 15 out of 25 multiple choice questions (MCQs) in 20 minutes. Three out of eight questions must be answered in the written or theory part of the test in 1 hour and 40 minutes.
On the other hand, the examinees of Humanities and Business Education will have to answer 15 out of 30 MCQs in 20 minutes. Four out of 11 questions must be answered in the theory part of the examination in 1 hour and 40 minutes.
However, the minister said that there would be full marks examinations in all subjects next year.