The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations which were postponed due to flood will begin on September 15, education minister Dipu Moni said on Monday.

The examinations will begin at 11 am this year instead of 10 am considering the traffic jam, she told reporters after a meeting with the National Monitoring and Law and Order Committee for ensuring smooth environment for the upcoming SSC exams at the Secretariat.

Coaching centres will remain closed across the country from September 12 to October 2, she said.

This year, the examinations will be held for two hours instead of three hours, she said adding the duration of the MCQ exam is 20 minutes while that of the written exam is 1 hour and 40 minutes.

All examinees have been asked to enter their exam halls 30 minutes before the starting time and no one except the exam secretary will be allowed to carry cellular phone.

According to the schedule, the SSC and its equivalent examinations will end on October 18.

Some 20,21,868 students are expected to take the SSC and equivalent exams this year while last year this number was 22,43,254. The number of candidates has decreased by 2,21,386.

About 15,99,711 candidates will sit for the SSC exam under nine general education boards, 2,68,495 for Dakhil exams under Madrasa Education Board and 1,53,662 for vocational exam under Bangladesh Technical Education Board this year, the minister said.

Some 3,790 centers have been prepared for the SSC exams across the country.

The SSC and its equivalent examinations under all the education boards scheduled to begin on June 19 were postponed due to the flood situation in the country on June 17.

Earlier, it was deferred for about four months because of the coronavirus pandemic. Usually, the SSC exams take place in February.