‘Concessions’ in SSC attracts irregular students to exams this year

Before the first Covid-19 patient was identified in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020, the SSC and equivalent examinations of that year were completed.
But the rapid spread of the deadly disease changed the whole picture of education sector and the authorities decided to take this year's SSC examination with a short syllabus in November.
Although last year's HSC examinees got 'auto-pass' in view of their SSC results, this time the Ministry of Education has decided to conduct the exam with 'great concessions' to prevent en masse pass in SSC or HSC.
Under the arrangement, the students will attend the examinations without elective subjects. Apparently as a consequence, the number of candidates in SSC this year has increased by more than 65,000 compared to last year.  
Even after the deadline, over 1,000 candidates have applied to fill up new forms. Unsuccessful candidates in one, two or more subjects are now contacting the education boards to fill up the form en masse. Irregular students are coming to the boards every day. Board officials say nearly a million students who had registrations in the ninth grade did not fill up the form before the final exam.  
The education board authorities want to identify these students as dropouts. Even then, 65,000 more students have filled the
form in 2021 than in 2020. Thousands of new students want to fill up the form.
It may be mentioned that 20 lakh 40 thousand 28 students took part in SSC and equivalent examinations last year. According to the Inter-Education Board, 21 lakh 5 thousand 125 students have filled the form till August 19 under all the boards in 2021.
One thousand applications were submitted to the Dhaka Board of Education last week, said officials. They applied for a new time to fill up the form. Students and their parents have continued coming to the board office for the opportunity to fill the form.
Abdullah al Masum, a guardian, told the Daily Observer, "My daughter failed in English, math and ICT in the SSC exams of 2020. Now she has decided to take the test."
Asked why she did not come on time to fill up the form, Masum's daughter said, "After knowing that the three subjects I failed will not be tested this time, I decided to attend the exam."
Board officials said that even though the educational institutions have been closed since March last year, the number of candidates appearing for SSC and equivalent examinations has not decreased much.
As there is no selection test, all the registrants have got the opportunity to participate in the final test. Even though the students were not very interested in filling up the forms at the beginning, the number of candidates has increased with the news of auto-pass and short syllabus. Among them, a large number of students who failed in the last two or three years or did not take part in the exams are taking part in the exams this time. However, about one lakh students have yet to fill up the forms.
Filling of SSC form started last March. The time for filling up the form ended on June 23 after extending the time three times. Even then, at least one lakh students across the country did not fill up the form due to corona infection, said officials from the Inter-Education Board. The education administration has not yet taken any decision to give the opportunity to the students who could not fill the form.
The Inter-Education Board's Examination Controller Dr SM Amirul Islam said, "Many students and their parents who could not fill up the form due to various reasons including Covid-19 are coming to the board. Many have applied in writing. Many others are contacting the boards through various means to fill the form. We are considering giving them the opportunity to fill up the form."