THE Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations began at 3,497 centres under ten Education Boards across the country yesterday. The written exams will end on February 26 and the practical tests would be held from February 27 to March 14. A total of 21,35,333 students — 10,70,441 boys and 10,64,892 girls – from 28,682 institutions have been appearing for the exams this year. Of them, 17,00,102 are sitting for the SSC exams under eight general education boards while 3,10,172 for Dakhil exams under the Madrasa Education Board, and 1,25,059 for Vocational exams under the Bangladesh Technical Education Board. A total of 434 students are also appearing for the exams from eight overseas centres.
The education system, particularly some of the textbook curriculum, is often seen as ‘peculiar’ for the mental growth of students. Besides, the condition of most educational institutions across the country is totally backdated. Thousands of schools have been built without providing basic educational facilities. They have no playgrounds, no laboratories, no libraries, and et cetera. In the digital era, the multimedia classroom is yet a dream for the students. Despite many odds, the number of examinees has increased more than one lakh this year than previous year. That means, more and more boys are getting education in the secondary school level.
But the most disturbing matter is question paper leakage. Education Minister Dipu Moni on Thursday said that there would be no incident of question paper leak during the public exams this year. Besides, the coaching centres will remain closed from January 27 till February 27 to check question leakage. Recently, the Criminal Investigation Department has also busted a big gang of question paper leakage and claimed that there would be no incident of question leak this time.
We have no doubt about the sincerity of Education Ministry. But on the first day, the ‘Bengali’ question paper was found on Facebook and WhatsApp after one hour the exam began. Leaking and distribution of any public examination question paper is a crime under the country’s existing law. The authorities concerned must implement the law against the culprits whoever he is.
