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Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid labelled coaching centres as ‘unlawful’ and admitted his failure to shut them down.
“All types of coaching centres are illegal,” the minister said at a media briefing at the secretariat in Dhaka on Wednesday ahead of the HSC and equivalent exams.
He said the ministry has no authority to close the coaching centres, but law-enforcement agencies can do this, reports bdnews24.com.
“Every coaching centre in Bangladesh will remain closed from Mar 29 until the HSC exams are over.”
The High Court has already issued a rule on coaching centres, guidebooks and notebooks, Nahid said adding that the law does not allow any coaching centre to operate in Bangladesh. “Even then, many crimes are happening in our country. We cannot stop all these right away even if we want to. However, we are continuing our efforts to stop it.”
The HSC theoretical exams are scheduled to begin on Apr 2 and end on May 5. The practical exams are scheduled to begin on May 16 and continue until May 25.
About 1.31 million examinees will take part in the HSC exams this year, which is 11 per cent higher than last year.
The education minister pledged to put a lid on question leaks this time taking lessons from the past experience. “We are facing some crisis now. But stringent measures and many more strategies have been taken this year to stop the leaks.”
Against the backdrop of harsh criticism over the question leaks in recent years, the education ministry has decided to set the questions for the upcoming HSC and equivalent exams by lottery 25 minutes prior to the exams to prevent the leaks.
Similar to the SSC exams, students are required to enter the exam centres 30 minutes prior to their HSC exams.