A total of 19 lakh 28 thousand 181 students will sit for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations across Bangladesh as the exams began at 10am on Thursday (10 April).
To ensure the examinations proceed in a secure and orderly manner, the interim government has decided to shut down all coaching centres across the country from 10 April to 13 May.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the national monitoring and law enforcement committee, formed to oversee exam-related security.
Authorities have also pledged to take effective steps to prevent the spread of rumours concerning question paper leaks.
As part of the crackdown, photocopying machines near examination centres will be kept shut on exam days.
Under the nine general education boards, 14 lakh 90 thousand 142 students are expected to sit the SSC exams.
Among them are 7 lakh 1 thousand 538 boys and 7 lakh 88 thousand 604 girls.
The exams are taking place across 2,291 centres involving 18,084 institutions.
Under the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board, a total of 2 lakh 94 thousand 726 students will appear, including 1 lakh 50 thousand 893 boys and 1 lakh 43 thousand 833 girls.
These will be held across 725 centres and 9,063 institutions.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Technical Education Board will see 1 lakh 43 thousand 313 candidates, comprising 1 lakh 8 thousand 385 boys and 34 thousand 928 girls.
