93pc merit-based, 7pc quota for XI admission

The proposed admission policy has been sent to the Education Ministry for approval. The policy is not yet final and could be amended before it is formally approved.

Under the draft, five per cent of seats would be reserved for children of freedom fighters and martyred freedom fighters, while two per cent would be reserved for children of officials and employees of the Education Ministry and its subordinate departments and agencies.

Students would be selected solely on the basis of their SSC or equivalent examination results, with no separate admission test.

According to the proposed schedule, online applications for Class XI admission will open on September 2 and remain open until 8pm on September 10.

Students whose results change following re-scrutiny or re-evaluation would be able to apply or revise their college preferences between September 12 and 13, until 8PM.

The results of the first round of selections are scheduled to be published at 8pm on September 16. Selected students must confirm their selection by 11PM on September 18. 

Failure to confirm within the deadline would result in cancellation of both the application and selection.

The first migration results are expected at noon on September 19.

Final admissions would take place from September 20 to 22, with regular Class XI classes scheduled to begin on September 23.

Eligibility and group selection

Under the draft, students who pass the SSC or equivalent examination in the year the results are published or in either of the preceding two years would be eligible to apply, subject to other requirements.

Students who have completed equivalent examinations under foreign education boards would also be eligible. Their certificates would have to be evaluated by the Dhaka Education Board before they could apply.

Students from the science group would be allowed to apply for science, humanities or business studies. Humanities students could apply for humanities or business studies, while business studies students could apply for business studies or humanities.

Students from any of the three groups would also be eligible to apply for Islamic Studies, home economics or music.

Students from the Madrasah Education Board who completed the science group would be eligible for science, humanities or business studies. Students from the General and Mujabbid Mahir groups would be able to apply for any group except science.

Students who passed SSC (Vocational) or Dakhil (Vocational) under the Bangladesh Technical Education Board would also be allowed to apply to any group under the general education boards. Dakhil (Vocational) graduates would be able to apply to science, general and Mujabbid Mahir groups under the Madrasah Education Board.

Detailed merit ranking rules proposed

Where students have the same GPA, their merit ranking would be determined by their total marks.

For students from the Madrasah, Technical and Bangladesh Open University systems, grade points and marks would be converted into equivalent figures for ranking purposes. Marks and grade points from different examination years would also be standardized.

For science students with equal total marks, marks in general mathematics and either higher mathematics or biology would be considered first. If a tie remains, English, physics and chemistry marks would be considered successively.

For humanities and business studies students, English, mathematics and Bangla marks would be considered successively in the event of a tie.

Quota seats

The draft proposes keeping 93% of seats open to all applicants, with selection based on merit.

Of the 2 per cent  reserved for Education Ministry personnel, 1 per cent would be allocated to children of ministry officials and employees, while another 1 per cent would be reserved for children of officials and employees of departments and agencies under the ministry.

These quotas would apply to educational institutions in metropolitan areas, divisional cities and district headquarters. Applicants would still have to meet the minimum eligibility requirements of the respective institution. If the number of applicants exceeds the available quota seats, selection would be made on merit among the eligible applicants.

Applicants under the employee quota would have to submit a certification from the head of the relevant office. If the concerned employee is himself or herself the head of the office, certification from the next senior official would be required.

A separate five per cent quota has been proposed for sons and daughters of freedom fighters and martyred freedom fighters. Applicants would have to submit authenticated copies of relevant certificates or government gazettes and produce the originals at the time of admission.

The freedom fighter certificates issued by the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs would be verified before admission.

If there are no eligible children of freedom fighters or martyred freedom fighters, the reserved seats would not remain vacant. Instead, students from the general merit list would be admitted to those seats.

The draft says this quota arrangement would apply only to the 2026-27 academic year.

Online admission and migration

All applications to Education Board-approved institutions would have to be submitted online, with the entire admission process conducted through the online platform.

Admission fees would be determined by the Bangladesh Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee and published through a government notification after approval from the Secondary and Higher Education Division.

The draft also retains the migration facility, allowing students to move to a college higher on their preference list after admission, subject to availability and the applicable rules.

Prof Syed Akhtaruzzaman, chairman of the Bangladesh Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee and chairman of the Dhaka Education Board, confirmed the proposed policy to Dhaka Post.

He said the previous year's policy would largely remain unchanged, with no major changes proposed apart from an increase in the Bangladesh National Cadet Corps (BNCC) fee from Tk6 to Tk10.

He said online applications would begin on September 2, followed by selection confirmation and seat allocation, with admissions planned for September 20-22 and classes beginning September 23.

He added that students awaiting re-scrutiny results would also be able to apply within the designated period, while those unable to apply in the first phase would still have an opportunity to apply until September 13.

According to the board chairman, the authorities aim to finalize the selection of most students in the first round, followed by migration where necessary to allow students to move to colleges higher on their preference lists.