Dhaka: Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Saturday said no instruction has been given to examiners or teachers to give extra marks to students in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations.

‘No instruction has been given to give extra or less marks. Students will get numbers what they deserve,’ the minister told a press briefing at the ministry about the preparations of the SSC and its equivalent examinations scheduled to begin on 1 February.  

Nahid sought help from all for holding the examination in a peaceful and copying-free environment.  

‘There’s no scope of question paper leak as law enforcement agencies are keeping eyes on coaching centres and social networking sites, including Facebook, to check the possible question paper leakage,’ he said.

Besides, the coaching centres and the photocopy shops will remain shut around the examination centres to prevent question paper leak, he said.

This year a total of 16,51,523 examinees, including 2,48,865 from madrasah and 98,384 from vocational institutions, will take part in the examinations from 28,119 institutions at 3143 centres . Of them, 8,42,933 are male students and 8,04,990 are female, he said.

The written examination will end on 8 March while the practical examination will be held from 9 March to 14 March.

Meanwhile, 404 students will appear in the examinations from abroad at eight centres, which are Jeddah, Riyadh, Tripoli, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Saham.

This year, at least 7 autistic students will appear in the examinations. They will get a 30-minute extra time while the handicapped students to get 20 minutes of extra time.

However, the Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has been asked to take necessary action against those involved in question paper leakage through social networking sites, including Facebook.