Around 10,000 students missed the first day of this year's Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent exams, nearly double the number from last year.
This information was shared by
Professor Tapan Kumar Sarkar, President, Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee and Chairman, Dhaka Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, shared the information on Sunday. The high number of absentees is attributed to the adverse weather conditions on the day of the Bengali First Paper exam.
The Dhaka Education Board reported the highest number of absentees, with 2,601 students missing the exam. Other boards also reported significant absentee numbers: Rajshahi (1,508), Comilla (1,156), Jessore (1,328), Chittagong (975), Barisal (727), Dinajpur (1,013), and Mymensingh (662).
Professor Sarkar noted that the increase in absences might be due to both the bad weather and a higher number of examinees this year. He mentioned that an emergency notification was issued due to the forecast of rain, allowing extra time for students who arrived late to the examination centers.
On the first day, exams were held at 1,472 centers across eight general education boards, excluding the Sylhet Board, where exams were postponed due to flooding. Out of 933,689 candidates for the Bangla First Paper, 923,719 appeared for the exam, while 9,970 students were absent, resulting in an absentee rate of 1.07%.
Last year, 5,522 students were absent on the first day of the HSC exams. The authorities are hopeful that the weather will improve and that absentee numbers will decrease in the upcoming days of the examination period.
