HSC exams could be retaken in weather-affected centres: Minister

HSC and equivalent exams would be retaken if necessary at centres that faced weather-related disruptions, Education Minister Ehsanul Hoque Milon said at the parliament on Tuesday.

He also said that the students would get full marks for the two faulty questions included in the Physics exam.

While responding to the students’ concerns and anger over the two issues, the minister requested them to call off their ongoing street demonstrations and return to the study tables.

Earlier, Brahmanbaria-2 lawmaker Rumeen Farhana asked the minister why the exams could not be deferred by one-two days, as demanded by the students, amid ongoing heavy rains, floods and waterlogging in different parts of the country, including the capital and port city.

Responding to the query, the minister said his office closely monitored the overall situation across the country till 5pm Sunday.

All the field-level officials, including district police superintendents, eight divisional commissioners, chairmen of all the education boards, district administrators, Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNO) and weather offices, agreed that the weather would improve and there would be no obstruction to taking the exams on Monday.

Based on field-level information, the ministry gave the go-ahead for holding the exams across all the 2,700 centres of the country.

The next day, waterlogging and subsequent troubles were reported only at the Cumilla Govt Mohila College.

However, authorities took prompt steps to alleviate the crisis following directives from the ministry. One examinee’s dress got wet, but she was allowed to change her clothes after bringing another set from her home.

Furthermore, all the examinees were transported by boat to a five-story building for holding the exams smoothly.

The beginning of the exams was delayed by an hour due to the disruptions, the minister added.

Furthermore, he admitted that questions six and seven in the Physics exam contained errors, adding that the students would get full marks for these.

The preparation and moderation of question papers take around two years, but the current government has been in power for only four months, the minister said.

The question preparation and moderation committee from the previous administrations were appointed for the HSC exams.

And yet, the government has managed to identify the erroneous questions without delay and would reimburse the students accordingly, Ehsanul Hoque Milon said.