SSC exams start today

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC), Dakhil and SSC vocational examinations under 10 education boards across the country will start today amid strict measures to prevent students from adopting unfair means.
The examinations will commence at 10:00 am with the English First Paper.
A total of 10,63,484 regular and irregular students will take the SSC and equivalent exams in 1,888 centres under Dhaka, Rajshahi, Comilla, Jessore, Chittagong, Barisal, Sylhet, Dinajpur, Madrasa, and the technical education boards.
Seven more centres were also set up in foreign countries for expatriate examinees.
The number of candidates for SSC and equivalent certificates is 50,183 more than last year's.
The Dhaka board has the highest number of 2.40,198 examinees while the Sylhet board has the lowest number of candidates, which is 37,544.
Around 8.01 lakh students of 15,216 high schools will take the SSC exams under eight general education boards, 1.86 lakh students of 9,424 madrasas will sit for the equivalent Dakhil examinations, and 75,057 students of 1,599 technical institutes will appear at the SSC vocational exams.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid has recently said that the exams this year would be free of unfair means and any attempts to adopt such dishonest means will be handled sternly.
The authorities have taken measures to provide sufficient security and ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity at the exam centres, sources said.
Some 2.4 lakh students are sitting for the exams from the Dhaka Board, 1.14 lakh under Rajshahi Board, 88,523 under Comilla Board, 1.07 lakh under Jessore Board, 62,037 in Chittagong, 48,808 in Barisal and 1.02 lakh in Dinajpur, according to the education ministry.
This is the first ever SSC examinations being held under the Dinajpur board.
Under the Madrasa board 1.86 lakh students are sitting for the Dakhil exams and 75,057 for the SSC vocational exams under the technical education board.
Another 254 students are sitting for the exams from seven overseas centres.