5.47 lakh students not sitting for SSC, equivalent exams this year

Over 5.47 lakh students are not sitting for this year's SSC and equivalent exams, scheduled to begin tomorrow, as they did not fill out forms in spite of registering as regular students in ninth grade, education ministry data shows.

A total of 22,88,323 students registered for class nine in 2017 and of them 17,40,937 are taking the Secondary School Certificate and equivalent exams under 10 boards.

The information was shared at a pre-exam press briefing held at the education ministry at secretariat yesterday.

Officials of the ministry said many of these students may have dropped out due to financial restraints.

Last year, more than 3.74 lakh students did not take the SSC and equivalent exams as they did not fill out the required forms in spite of being registered as students of class nine.

Briefing reporters, Education Minister Dipu Moni said a total of 21,35,333 students -- 10,70,441 boys and 10,64,892 girls -- from 28,682 institutions are expected to take the exams at 3,497 centres. Some 3.91 lakh irregular students are also taking part in the exams.

The written exams will continue until February 26, while practical exams will be held from February 27 to March 5.

The minister assured that there will be no question paper leaks during the exams.

She said in the past there was a practice to allow students to sit for SSC exams even after failing three or four subjects during the test exams at their respective schools.

“This year school authorities have taken a strong stance, and are not allowing students who have failed test exams to sit for SSC. For these reasons the number of regular examinees may have reduced this year,” Dipu Moni said.

She said the government has taken strict measures to prevent question paper leaks, and urged teachers, students and guardians to not pay heed to any rumour.

The monitoring cell of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will work to stop the spread of rumours, she said.

She also warned that police will take action if any coaching centre remains open defying government order.

As per the government order, coaching centres across the country will remain closed till the end of SSC and equivalent exams.