SSC students follow rules, parents don’t

SSC and equivalent exams began yesterday amid strict maintenance of Covid-19 health guidelines inside the exam centres.

While the examinees maintained the rules, parents waiting outside the centres were hardly cautious.

This year's Secondary School Certificate and equivalent exams started after over a nine-month delay due to the Covid-19 situation. They are the first public exams taking place since the pandemic took a hard hit on the education sector since March last year.

Usually, SSC exams are held in February.

While visiting several centres, our correspondents found all students wearing their masks and entering the centres in queues after getting their temperatures checked.

Candidates sitting for the exam in Motijheel Government Boys' High School, centre were seen navigating through crowds as guardians were gathered in front of the exam centres, ignoring the instructions of keeping a distance of at least three feet from each other.

Education Minister Dipu Moni, while visiting the Motijheel Government Boys' High School, said that Covid-19 health guideline were maintained inside the centres. "In many places, however, guardians were crowding outside the exam centre." 

Speaking to reporters, she urged everyone to maintain health guidelines as the exams were taking place amid an ongoing pandemic.

She also said stern actions would be taken against those involved in spreading rumours regarding question leaks.

The minister added that the government is trying to vaccinate HSC candidates before the exams, which are scheduled to start on December 2. The exams are usually held in April.

She added that next year's SSC and HSC exams may take place in May and June.

HINTS AT CANCELLING JSC EXAMS

"Once a new curriculum is implemented, there is supposed to be no [JSC] exams. An alternative method will be used to assess students [after fifth grade]," the minister said about future JSC exams, as a new curriculum was not yet recommended.

The new curriculum, which is set to be implemented in phases from January 2023, does not propose public exams before class 10. The curriculum will be fully implemented by 2025.

JSC exams were introduced in 2010 and many educationists, since then, have criticised the exams, calling them unnecessary and a source of stress for students.

"There was nothing in the existing curriculum about PECE and JSC exams. However, the government decided to hold them," said a member of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board.

FIRST DAY OF EXAMS

On the first day of the exams, SSC candidates under nine general education boards and those under the technical board sat for the physics exam, while Dakhil candidates under madrasas took either Quran Mazid and Tazbid or physics.

A total of 18,820 candidates were absent on the first day of the exams, while 31 students and two invigilators were expelled for resorting to unfair means, said the education ministry's exam control room.

It added that 9 lakh students were supposed to sit for the exams.

Around 9,894 students under madrasa board, 5,378 under the technical education board and 3,548 students under nine general education boards were absent on the first day.

Nineteen invigilators under the madrasa board, 10 under technical education board and two under the Barishal education board were expelled.

This year, examinees will have to sit only for exams in three optional subjects with shortened syllabuses and for fewer marks due to the Covid-19 situation.

They will not have to sit for tests in compulsory subjects like Bangla, English and mathematics.

The results of the three optional subjects and the Grade Point Average of the students' previous public examinations, including JSC tests, will be taken into consideration for the final results.

Each exam will be an and half hour long, and there will be no breaks between MCQs and written tests. Covid-19 health guidelines will be strictly followed during the exams, authorities said.