bdnews24.com :
After a delay of nine months, over 2.2 million students from 29,035 educational institutions are taking the Secondary School Certificate, or SSC, exams in the first public tests in schools since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The SSC and equivalent exams started at 10 am on Sunday with students taking the Physics test after braving the pandemic and the drizzle of rain.
Though the number of virus cases has dropped recently, the pandemic is not yet over. Educational institutions have also been shut for over a year and a half. And so, this year, the exams are being held under special rules.
The government has decided the SSC and HSC tests will have a reduced syllabuses of three elective subjects in consideration of the setbacks caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
There will be no exams on the compulsory and fourth subjects. Students will be graded on those subjects through subject mapping, following recommendations from an expert committee.
The exam duration has also been cut to one and a half hours.
Students must enter their examination centres half an hour before the tests.
Authorities have taken extra precautions at 3,679 centres throughout Bangladesh this year to protect students from COVID-19.
Teachers at centres in Dhaka said they have taken measures to ensure hand sanitisation for students and temperature screening in line with coronavirus health protocols.
Isolation rooms have also been kept for students, teachers or staff, should any of them fall sick during the exams.
Steps have also been taken to limit the crowds of parents outside the centres.
As many as 1.8 million students are taking the SSC exams under the General Education Board while 301,887 students are sitting for the Dakhil exam under the Madrasa Education Board. A total of 124,228 students are taking the SSC Vocational exams under the Vocational Education Board.
At least 429 students abroad will take the SSC and equivalent exams at exam centres in Jeddah, Riyadh, Tripoli, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain, Oman and Athens.
SSC exams are usually held in February. Last year’s tests ended before the government ordered all schools shut due to the COVID pandemic.
Officials later ruled out the possibility of automatically promoting the SSC candidates.
Instead of tests, the results of Higher Secondary Certificate, or HSC, exams last year were based on the students’ performances in Junior School Certificate and SSC tests.
Finally, the government reopened the schools and colleges for in-person classes in September after the pandemic ebbed.
The daily test positivity rate has dropped below 1.5 percent now, a sharp drop from the 30 percent during the peak.
