JSC exams begin today

unior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) examinations begin today with participation of more than 18 lakh class eight students of schools and madrasas.

The examinations will be held at 2,009 centres across the country under eight general education boards and one madrasa board. Some 18,61,113 students-- 15,37,422 from schools and 3,23,691 from madrasas-- will appear in the exams.

Students of general education boards will have uniform question papers in the examinations, said Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday while briefing reporters about the exams at the ministry's conference room at the secretariat.

Of the total school and madrasa examinees from 27,614 institutions, about 2,74,349 are irregular. They either flunked one or more subjects or refrained from taking examinations last year, Nahid said.

He added that the students who will fail up to three subjects will be allowed to enrol in class nine. But next year they have to pass the subjects they fail this year to get promoted to class nine.

The number of total examinees is 3,68,311 more than that of last year. Besides, this year the number of female students is 1,37,585 more than the male ones.

Mentioning that the JSC and JDC examinations are going to be held for the second time, Nahid said the students will be encouraged once they get a certificate after the examinations. And it will also reduce the fear of public examinations among students.

Except for Bangla second paper, English first and second paper, and mathematics, the exams will be held under creative question-answer method, he said.

Replying to a question, he said the government will take action against the headmasters who will bar comparatively weak students from appearing in the exams in order to ensure cent percent pass rate of their institutions.

The exams will be three hours long. However, physically challenged students will get 20 minutes extra, the minister said.

Dhaka board has the highest 4.64 lakh examinees while Barisal board has the lowest 85,532.

The school students will take Bangla first paper while the madrasa students will take Bangla literature on the first day today. The examinations will end on November 21.

The results will be published in grading system. Students will be awarded scholarships on the basis of their results.