Thousands await bar enrolment as viva results remain stalled

Thousands of aspiring lawyers remain in limbo as the Bangladesh Bar Council viva result, Bar Council enrolment delay 2025, lawyer registration exam Bangladesh, MCQ written viva timeline, enrolment committee review process, grace marks Bar Council decision, aspiring lawyers result uncertainty has yet to publish the results of its enrolment viva examinations held in November last year, despite assurances that the process is nearing completion.
The enrolment process began with a multiple-choice question (MCQ) examination held on 25 April 2025. Candidates who passed sat the written examination on 28 June, with results published on 25 October. Viva examinations were subsequently conducted from 15 to 30 November. However, nearly ten months after the initial MCQ exam, the final results are still pending.
Candidates who appeared in the viva said the prolonged delay has caused significant mental distress, as uncertainty continues over their eligibility to practise law.
“Even though the MCQ exam was held ten months ago, the Bar Council has not yet released the final results,” said one candidate, calling the delay “deeply distressing”.
Written exam review also delayed
Uncertainty has also surrounded the review of written examination scripts for candidates who were initially marked as failed. Following repeated demands, the Enrolment Committee opened a review window, prompting 7,558 candidates to apply.
Considering the unusually high number of applications, the committee later decided to award three grace marks to review applicants. However, candidates who still failed after the review sought re-evaluation.
On 23 November last year, the Enrolment Committee decided to cancel the previously published review results and re-evaluate the written answer scripts of all review applicants. Despite that decision, the revised results have not been published even after three months.

“Almost 8,000 students are living in uncertainty,” said a candidate who requested anonymity.
“If we had passed, we could have prepared for the viva; if we had failed, we could have gone back to studying for the written exam. Neither is possible now.”
Bar Council assures results ‘very soon’
The Enrolment Committee has not provided a clear timeline for publishing either the written exam review results or the viva outcomes.
Contacted for comment, Bar Council Vice Chairman Zainul Abedin said the results would be published “very soon”.
Regarding the written exam reviews, he said not all answer scripts had initially been assessed, but the decision was later taken to review all of them.
“Those results will also be published shortly,” he said.
Meanwhile, a new enrolment MCQ examination scheduled for 29 November last year was postponed. Asked about the delay, Zainul Abedin said a new date would be announced only after the pending results were published.
“The Bar Council has not yet held a meeting on the matter, and a decision will be known after the meeting,” he added.

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