HSC exam: Over 20,000 absent on 1st day, 21 expelled

A total of 20,354 examinees remained absent on the first day of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations that began across Bangladesh on Sunday.

Besides, 21 candidates were expelled during the examination in 10 education boards for resorting to unfair means, according to data from the control room of the Ministry of Education.

Some 15,255 students (1.59 per cent) out of 9,58,951 candidates under nine general education boards did not show up to take the examination, shows the data.

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The highest number of 3,509 absentees was reported in Dhaka board, while the lowest (813) was in Mymensingh board.

Besides, 2,158 students in Rajshahi board, 1,904 in Jashore board, 1,818 in Dinajpur board, 1,762 in Cumilla board, 1,356 in Chittagong Board, 968 in Sylhet board, and 967 in Barishal board were absent from the exam.

In addition, 5,099 students (5.47 per cent) out of 93,252 examinees remained absent from the Alim examination under the Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board.

The HSC examination on Bangla first paper of Business Management and Technology (BMT) under the Bangladesh Technical Education Board has been postponed due to printing mistakes in question papers.

According to officials, over 12 lakh candidates are sitting for the tests under 11 education boards at 2,649 centres across the country.

The exams will end on December 13.