Coaching centres across Bangladesh will remain shut for a month from Jan 25, a week before the start of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent exams until the tests come to an end.

Education Minister Dipu Moni made the announcement on Thursday (Jan 16) during a media call at the Secretariat.

"The SSC and equivalent exams will be held between Feb 1 and 22. All coaching centres will remain closed from Jan 25 to Feb 25 in an effort to plug attempts of question paper leak," she said.

Warning stern actions against rumours of question leak, the minister urged parents and students to not fall for rumours.

CREATIVE QUESTIONS IN ALL SUBJECTS EXCEPT BANGLA AND ENGLISH

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent exams will contain creative writing questions in all the subjects except Bangla second paper and English first and second papers.

Education Minister Dipu Moni made the announcement during a media call at the Secretariat on Thursday (Jan 16).

“A usual, the evaluation of the physical education, health education, sports and career studies will be sent to the centre. The centre will add those numbers and send it to the board,” she said.

As in previous exams, all candidates will have to be seated at their centres 30 minutes prior to the test. The exam centre secretaries will be notified about the question's set code 25 minutes before the test.

No phones or electronic devices are allowed at the centres. However, only centre secretaries will be allowed to use mobile phones, which can't be a smartphone and has no camera.  

Deputy Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury also attended the media call.

This year 2,047,779 students will sit for the school-leaving exams at 3,512 centres across Bangladesh.