Dhaka: The minister for education Nurul Islam Nahid on Tuesday said there is no scope of questions leaking in the upcoming Secondary School Certificate and equivalent examination, which will begin from 2 February.

The minister during a press briefing in his ministry’s conference room said every step of preparing and printing the question papers has been done under strict surveillance. There is no scope of question paper fraud in the upcoming SSC examination.

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations of 2017 will begin across the country on 2 February.

This year, 17,86,613 students, including 9,10,501 boys and 8,73,112 girls, are expected to sit for the examinations from 28,344 institutions, the minister said.

Of them, 14,25,900 students will sit for the SSC examination under eight general education boards, while 2,56501 for Dakhil under Madrasah Education Board and 1,4212 for vocational exam under Bangladesh Technical Education Board.

The examinations will be held in 3236 centres across the country.

The number of total examinees has risen to 1,35,090 from previous year’s 16,51523. A total of 446 students will sit for the examinations from eight overseas centres as well.

This year, the SSC examinations will be held under creative question papers except Bangla 2^nd paper, English 1^st and 2^nd papers, Nurul Islam Nahid said.

The written examinations will end on 2 March while the practical ones will be held from 4 March to 11 March.