Originally, the method in which a question asks for several bits of information on a single topic was planned to be brought into use in 2009.

Education Adviser Ayub Quadri yesterday signed papers deferring the SQ system for one more year as teachers and students are not ready yet for it even after seven months into the current academic session, ministry sources said.

"We have decided to put off the method till 2010, considering the concern of the guardians and students. Instead of 2009, now it will be in effect from the 2010 SSC examinations," Bablu Kumar Saha, deputy secretary of the education ministry, told The Daily Star yesterday.

He also said that by this November, 8,800 teachers will be trained in dealing with the new question pattern that will be included in the nest year's textbooks.

The education ministry on May 6 decided that the students who are now in Class IX would face structured questions in the 2009 Secondary School Certificate examinations. Currently, the essay types are in practice.

A structured question is divided into three or four parts. The first part is intended to be easier to answer while the other ones gradually become harder.

Sources in the ministry said the method would be introduced as part of a Tk 793-crore Secondary Education Sector Development Project (SESD).

According to the plan, there will be 60 marks for SQ method, instead of 50 marks as is now customary with essay-type questions.

There will be 40 marks for multiple choice questions, instead of 50. The new system will not be applicable to the English papers and the Bangla second paper.