SSC exams begin with Bangla I

Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations began yesterday with 14,99,957 students taking part and 6,826 remaining absent.

Meanwhile, the Bangla I tests will not be cancelled at three centres, two of which saw questions based on 2014's syllabus being served while another experienced faulty timekeeping, as per the authorities concerned.

Ten persons were taken off exam duties. Eight failed to detect the wrong questions before passing those out and to address examinees' complaints, said Gopalganj District Education Officer Rafiqul Islam.

The remaining two were charged with the faulty timekeeping as per Jamalapur's Sharishabari Upazila Nirbahi Officer Flora Bilkis Jahan.

A press release of the education ministry's Central Control Board said seven students were expelled and two invigilators were taken off duties. The reason was not stated.

The absentees are from the boards of madrasa (2,597), technical (941), Dhaka (847), Rajshahi (421), Comilla (510), Jessore (423), Chittagong (279), Sylhet (252), Barisal (250) and Dinajpur (306), it added.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid once again ruled out any possibility of question papers leak, reasoning that government measures were in place, and asked students not to pay heed to rumours.

Talking to journalists after visiting an exam centre in Tejgaon Government Girls' High School in the capital, he said results would be published within 60 days after the exam period, adds UNB.

There are 404 examinees appearing in Jeddah, Riyadh, Tripoli, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Saham, said the news agency.

WRONG QUESTION

The question papers based on 2014's syllabus were provided to 79 examinees at the SK Government College centre in Kashiani upazila's Ramdia and another 71 in the Shatpar Boltoli Shahapur Sammilito High School centre in the sadar upazila of Gopalganj.

It was the board's "mistake" and the exams will not be cancelled, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT) of Gopalganj Saidur Rahman quoted the Intermediate and Secondary Education Board chairman as saying.

Six of the invigilators taken off duty were at the Kashiani centre while the sadar centre saw the removal of its secretary and hall superintendent, reports a correspondent from Faridpur.

FAULTY TIMEKEEPING

The two invigilators in the Sarishabari Pilot Girls' School and College centre in Jamalpur's Sarishabari upazila first provided an hour instead of the stipulated 40 minutes for the objective test to 42 examinees.

Moreover, they took away answer sheets of the subjective test after two hours, half an hour before schedule, reports our district correspondent quoting the exam centre sources as saying.

Complaints of the examinees and their parents then reached the centre's secretary, Syed Abdur Rouf and the UNO, who removed the invigilators from duty.