TDS Desk:

The education boards are preparing to publish the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent exam results by combining students’ scores from their Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams.

According to sources, the results will be calculated with 75% weight given to SSC scores and 25% to JSC scores through subject mapping.

The boards aim to release the results by the first week of next month, education board sources told that.

Last month, after students stormed the Secretariat in protest and surrounded officials, the Education Ministry was forced to cancel the remaining HSC exams. The ministry has now received a proposal on how to publish the results and is expected to give instructions soon. The method will be finalised at a meeting of exam controllers on Wednesday (September 18).

Previously, during the Covid-19 pandemic, a similar subject mapping method was used to publish HSC results when exams could not be held. The Education Ministry is also considering whether the results should be based solely on SSC scores to ease the pressure on students, sources said.

This year, around 14.5 lakhs students were scheduled to take the HSC exams, which began on 30 June.

Seven exams were completed before protests calling for quota reform in government jobs erupted, leading to multiple postponements. Eventually, the protests culminated in the ousting of the Sheikh Hasina government on 5 August. Attempts to reschedule the exams for 11 August failed due to disruptions at police stations, where exam papers were damaged during attacks.

On 11 September, the ministry decided to cancel the remaining exams following further student protests, citing the prolonged mental stress caused by the indefinite delays.