HSC exams begin today

Over 7.36 lakh examinees
Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examinations begin today with a total of 7,36,373 examinees sitting for the exams in 2,037 centres across the country.
This year the number of HSC and its equivalent Alim, Business Management (BM) examinees is around 1.15 lakh more than last year’s.
Some 4,00,464 male and 3,35,909 female students of 7,202 educational institutions will appear for the examinations under 10 education boards.
The exams will also be held in five overseas centres in Jeddah, Riyadh, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Tripoli for a total of 146 candidates.
The authorities concerned took necessary measures including heightened security to ensure peaceful atmosphere at the examination centres.
Bangla First Paper will be held on the first day today. The second exam — Bangla Second Paper will be held on March 5.
Around 18.24 percent of the registered students have dropped out this year as they failed to fill in exam forms.
However, the drop-out rate is low this year, which was 19.92 percent in 2009.
According to statistics from the education board computer centre, a total of 7,02,708 students were registered as regular students in the 2008-09 session after passing their school certificate exams.
But of the total, 1,28,205 students are not appearing at the 2010 exams, according to the stats.
Some 5,74,503 regular students and 1,61,870 students who failed in previous years will participate in this year’s examination.
The highest number of students sitting for this year’s exam is from Dhaka Board while the lowest from Sylhet Board.
A total of 1,96,197 students will sit under Dhaka Board; 83,715 under Rajshahi Board; 54,525 under Comilla Board; 80,080 under Jessore Board; 43,256 under Chittagong Board; 35,656 under Barisal Board; 20,125 under Sylhet Board; 73,986 under Dinajpur Board; 74,413 under Madrasa Board and 70,504 under Technical Board.
Besides, 3,916 students of Diploma in Business Studies (DIBS) will sit under Dhaka Board.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid is likely to visit some of the exam centres in Dhaka as well as a few outside the city, said sources.

Courtesy of The Daily Star