HSC candidates can retake missed exams: Milon

Education Minister Dr A N M Ehsanul Haque Milon has announced that Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinees who were unable to sit their examinations because of adverse weather or other unavoidable circumstances will be given another opportunity to take the missed papers.

Making a statement in Parliament under Rule 300 on Wednesday, the minister said the decision had been taken in recognition of the importance of the HSC examinations in students' academic lives.

A total of 1,270,583 candidates are sitting the HSC and equivalent examinations this year at 2,697 examination centres across the country, he said.

The minister noted that examinations had already been postponed in five districts under the Chattogram Education Board—Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban—because of heavy rainfall and adverse weather.

He added that, apart from the Chattogram Education Board, some candidates in Dhaka and several other districts were also unable to attend scheduled examinations due to bad weather and other unavoidable reasons.

“Candidates who could not participate in any subject of the ongoing HSC and equivalent examinations due to adverse weather or other unavoidable reasons will be allowed to sit those examinations on the same date and at the same time fixed by the Education Ministry for the already postponed examinations under the Chattogram Education Board,” the minister told Parliament.

He said the examinations would be held using identical question papers for the relevant subjects.

The minister also addressed the controversy over the Physics First Paper examination, saying the officials responsible for preparing the erroneous question paper had already been suspended.

Reaffirming the government's commitment to protecting students' interests, Milon said all candidates would receive full marks for Questions 6 and 7 of the Physics First Paper, where errors had been identified.

He said the government remained committed to ensuring that no student would suffer because of mistakes in the examination process or circumstances beyond their control.