1.75 lakh absent on 1st day

More than 1.75 lakh examinees out of over 26 lakh were absent on the first day of the primary terminal examinations for class V students of both general and madrasa education yesterday.
Four madrasa students were expelled reportedly for resorting to unfair means.
The examination began at 11:00am in 6,176 centres across the country as well as eight overseas on Mathematics on the first day. The students of both the groups will sit for Bangla today.
Primary and Mass Education Minister Afsarul Amin and Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid visited several exam centres in the city and talked to the examiners, officials, and students.
With a view to improve quality of education, the government in 2009 introduced the public exam instead of primary scholarship examination.
This year, 23,16,685 students of general and 3,20,991 from madrasa education registered for the exams.
Of the absent yesterday, 1,24,730 were from general category while around 50,299 from ebtedai madrasa, according to the Directorate of Primary Education control room data. A total of 39 students among those taking the examination from the overseas centres were absent.
The highest number of absentee in general category was from Dhaka division. Some 39,979 students did not take the exam from this division.
In madrasa group, 14,367 students from Chittagong division were absent, the data shows.
The examinations will end on November 30.