Flooding and bad weather delayed Wednesday’s examinations under the Chattogram Education Board, while candidates in the rest of Bangladesh attended exams as scheduled.
The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations continued across Bangladesh on Wednesday, except under the Chittagong Education Board, where the day’s examinations were postponed because of flooding and adverse weather conditions.
On the fourth day of the nationwide examination schedule, students under the eight General Education Boards sat for the English (Compulsory) Second Paper examination. The Madrasah Education Board held the Bangla Second Paper examination, while the Technical Education Board conducted the Business English and Communication examination.
From early morning, examination centres across the country became busy as candidates arrived with their parents and guardians. After students entered the examination halls, many parents waited outside the centres until the examinations ended.
According to the Ministry of Education, a total of 1,270,583 candidates are participating in this year’s HSC and equivalent examinations under the country’s 11 education boards. Of them, 621,969 are male and 648,614 are female. Female candidates outnumber male candidates by 26,645.
Education stakeholders say the higher number of female candidates reflects continued progress in women’s education.
Earlier, at a press conference on July 1 at the Secretariat, Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary Abdul Khalek said students from 9,439 educational institutions are taking part in the examinations at 2,697 centres across the country. He also said the HSC examinations under the country’s nine General Education Boards are being held using a single and uniform question paper.
Data from the Ministry of Education and the education boards also show that around 36 percent of regular students are not participating in this year’s HSC and equivalent examinations.
According to the data, about 1.5 million students registered for Class XI after passing the SSC and equivalent examinations in the 2024–25 academic year. However, only about 950,000 students submitted examination forms for this year’s HSC and equivalent examinations. This means that around 550,000 regular students are not sitting for the examinations.
Last year, just over 29 percent of regular students did not participate in the examinations. More than 425,000 registered students were absent from the examinations. The latest figures indicate that the non-participation rate has increased by nearly seven percentage points within one year.
The Ministry of Education has said the HSC and equivalent examination schedule will continue as planned in the remaining education boards, while the postponed examinations under the Chattogram Education Board will be held on revised dates to be announced later.
