A total of 25,408 students were absent across the country on Tuesday during the first day of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations.
Despite strict security measures, including widespread CCTV surveillance, six students and one invigilator were expelled for irregularities.
According to a press release, signed by Professor Dr. Khandokar Ehsanul Kabir, president of the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee, the absences spanned nine general education boards, the Madrasa board, and the Technical board.
The exams were held simultaneously from 10AM to 1PM at 3,885 centers nationwide, with candidates from around 30,000 educational institutions.
Authorities took a zero-tolerance approach to cheating, expelling two students from the general education boards and four from the Madrasa board for adopting unfair means. Additionally, an invigilator under the Technical Education Board was relieved of his duties for negligence.
Tuesday's exams covered Bengali first paper for the general boards, Quran Majid and Tajwid for the Madrasa board, and Bengali-II for the Technical board.
Official statistics reveal that 11,890 students missed the exams under the nine general education boards out of 1,134,853 registered candidates, reflecting an overall absentee rate of 1.05 percent.
The Dhaka board recorded the highest number of absentees at 2,746, followed by Rajshahi with 1,958, Jashore with 1,441, and Cumilla with 1,426. Chattogram, Barishal, Sylhet, Mymensingh, and Dinajpur boards also reported significant absentee figures.
The two student expulsions in the general division occurred within the Dhaka and Dinajpur boards.
The Madrasa Education Board witnessed the highest absentee rate of the day at 4.40 percent, with 11,211 students failing to appear out of 254,903 registered candidates across 741 centers.
Meanwhile, 2,307 students missed the vocational exams under the Technical Education Board.
Out of 119,250 registered candidates, 116,943 participated, marking an absentee rate of 1.93 percent across 653 centers.
