Staff Reporter :
The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations, traditionally held in February for over a decade, are expected to be rescheduled to December starting in 2026, according to sources from the Education Ministry.
This change aligns with the implementation of the new curriculum.
Under the new curriculum, the SSC examinations will be based solely on the textbooks for class ten. The examination format will allocate 65 percent of the weightage to written assessments and 35 percent to activity-based assessments. The entire exam duration will be five hours.
Education ministry sources indicated that the new examination method has nearly been finalized, based on the new assessment process.
The entire procedure is expected to be completed by May 31.
However, a final decision has yet to be made regarding whether the exam will retain the SSC name or be renamed.
A committee formed at a higher level to develop the new curriculum has finalized the evaluation method, determining the annual and half-yearly (biannual) assessment process for schools on a seven-step scale.
Significant changes have been introduced to the SSC exams, notably shifting the examination period from February to December.
The ministry of education has convened a meeting to be held by this month to finalise everything, sources said.
Professor Fahadul Islam, Chairman of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), told the media that with the new curriculum, several new decisions regarding the SSC exams are likely to come.
“There might be changes in the exam duration alongside other changes. After the completion of another meeting, everyone will be informed,” he said.
He also informed that a workshop has been scheduled for the 27th to determine the assessment guidelines. From there, the final assessment method for the new curriculum may be decided.
Tapon Kumar Sarkar, Chairman of the Dhaka Education Board, told the media, “If the SSC exams are held at the end of the year instead of at the beginning of the year, the students will be able to fully utilize the academic year.”
“Considering these aspects, there is a recommendation to hold the SSC exams in December instead of February.
However, it is not finalized yet. It will be decided after the final meeting next month,” he said.
Earlier, it has been suggested by the evaluation committee that the SSC exams under the new curriculum will be held in 2026. In this public examination, students will be assessed on a total of 10 subjects. It will include written examinations.
Students will have to be present at the examination centers for five hours for the assessment of each subject.
Moreover, the SSC exam will only cover the subjects of the tenth grade.
That is, although exams were conducted on the syllabi of the ninth and tenth grades before, under the new curriculum, exams will only be held on the syllabus of the tenth grade.
In this class, students will study a total of 10 subjects. The subjects are Bangla, English, Mathematics, Science, History and Social Studies, Digital Technology, Life and Livelihood, Religious Education, Health and Safety, Arts and Culture.
For the overall arrangement of the SSC exams, a resource pool (expert team) of 600 teachers will be formed by coordinating subject-wise teachers.
Firstly, they will be provided with seven days of training under the supervision of the NCTB’s experts. Under the 11 education boards, a total of 44 teachers, four for each subject, will be selected.