HSC, equivalent exams begin today

The HSC and equivalent examinations of 2026 will commence concurrently across the country today.
The public examinations will be held under nine general education boards, the Bangladesh Technical Education Board, and the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board.

According to sources from the education ministry, a total of 12,70,583 candidates from 9,439 educational institutions will sit for the examinations this year across 2,697 centers nationwide.

The education ministry and respective education boards have taken special preparations to ensure a fair, smooth, and copy-free environment during the examinations.

In a major procedural change, the examinations across the nine general education boards will be conducted under identical question papers.

To underpin security, CCTV cameras have been installed at every examination centre, and a special ‘CCTV Camera Monitoring Cell’ has been formed at the education ministry to observe any centre nationwide live online.

Besides, police officers on duty will wear body-worn cameras to maintain security and discipline.
The examinations will span 21 days covering a total of 77 subjects. However, during this time, regular classroom lessons will continue at educational institutions on the days when no examinations are scheduled.

Special arrangements have been made for examinees from the ‘Seventh-day Adventist’ community, allowing them to take Saturday’s exams after sunset.

Furthermore, certain special exam centers have been retained to facilitate transport for candidates residing in remote haor areas, hilly regions, and char lands.

A total of 10,69,714 candidates, including 4,92,406 male and 5,77,308 female students, are appearing under the nine general education boards, marking an increase of 14,316 examinees compared to last year.

Under the Madrasah Education Board (Alim), the number of candidates stands at 92,905 — comprising 52,011 male and 40,894 female students — which is an increase of 6,803 candidates from the previous year.

Meanwhile, the Technical Education Board has seen a decline of 1,647 candidates compared to last year, with a total of 1,07,964 examinees, including 77,552 male and 30,412 female students sitting for the exams this year.

It may be mentioned, a significant portion of regular registered students did not fill out their examination forms this year.

Form-fill up rates show that 33.04% of registered students under the nine general boards, 44.07% under the madrasah board, and 54.58% under the technical board refrained from completing the process.