The Election Commission has made it mandatory to attach Secondary School Certificate or equivalent certificates to the voter registration database to ensure accuracy in personal information.
The directive was issued on Saturday through an office order signed by Md Saiful Islam, Director of Operations at the National Identity Registration Wing of the Election Commission.
The order was sent to all upazila and thana election registration officers across Bangladesh.
According to the order, SSC or equivalent certificates are often needed to verify personal information, particularly dates of birth, when applications for the correction of National Identity cards are processed.
The Election Commission said it had recently found that, in some cases, SSC or equivalent certificates were not being attached to the database even when applicants had secondary or higher educational qualifications.
This creates difficulties in verifying information during NID correction procedures and makes decision-making more complicated, the order said.
It also said that in some cases applicants deny having educational qualifications despite the existence of proof copies. Such situations can lead to disputes between officials and applicants and damage the image of the Election Commission.
In this context, the commission has instructed registration officers to ensure that SSC or equivalent certificates, including date of birth, are mandatorily attached to the database if a registered person has passed secondary or higher levels.
For people with higher qualifications, including Higher Secondary, undergraduate, postgraduate, MPhil or PhD degrees, the SSC or equivalent certificate must still be included in the database.
The order also said hard copies of the SSC or equivalent certificate, along with the highest educational qualification certificate, registration form, birth certificate and other relevant documents, must be preserved at the respective offices.
District Election Officers and Regional Election Officers have been instructed to monitor implementation of the directive through inspections and random checks.
