Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Thursday there will be a strong monitoring of all the social networking sites to prevent rumours about any possible question paper leak during the HSC and its equivalent examinations 2017, which are set to begin on April 2 next across the country.

He also said even no senior official, involved in the examinations, will be allowed to use smart phone inside any centre during the examinations that will continue till May 15 next, reports UNB.

The practical examinations will be held during May 16 to 25.

The minister came up with the disclosure at a press conference held at the Secretariat over the upcoming HSC examination.

‘No teacher or official except the officer-in-charge or the chief of venue will be allowed to use mobile phone, having no camera option, inside any centre during the examination,’ Nahid said adding that the government remains alert to check question paper leak.

This year some 11.84 lakh candidates, down from some 12.13 lakh last year, will sit for the HSC examination and its equivalent examinations this year.

About the fall in the number of examinees, the minister said there has been a fall by 34,000 students this time as the number of qualified examinees in SSC examination 2015 was less than that of 2014.

A total of 11,83,686 candidates –- 6,35,697 boys and 5,47,989 girls — from 8,864 institutions under eight general education boards, Madrasah Education Board, Bangladesh Technical Education Board and Diploma in Business Studies (DIBS) Board will appear at the HSC and its equivalent examinations this year through 2,497 examination centres across the country.

Of them, 9,82,783 examinees will sit for HSC examination, while 99,320 for Alim examination, 96,914 for HSC (BM/Vocational) examination and 4,669 examinees for DIBS examination.

Among the general boards, the highest 3,36,693 examinees under Dhaka Board, 1,23616 under Rajshahi Board, 1,06,772 under Dinajpur Board, 1,04,129 under Jessore Board, 1,01,450 under Comilla Board,  83,193 under Chittagong Board, 65,368 under Sylhet and 61,562 under Barisal Board.

In the eight general education boards, a total of 2,17,521 candidates will sit for the HSC examination from the science group, including agriculture and home economics, while 4,98,005 from humanities group and 2,67,257 from business studies group.

This year a total of 271 examinees will appear at the HSC examination through seven oversees examination centres –-two each in Saudi Arabia and UEA, one each in Qatar, Libya and Bahrain.

In 2016, a total of 12,18,628 examinees from 8,533 institutions sat for the HSC and its equivalent examinations through 2,452 examination centres in the country.