The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations, which were postponed due to flood, will begin across the country on Thursday.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Traffic division has requested the examinees in Dhaka to leave homes early to reach the exam centers timely, reports UNB.

It has been noticed that vehicles in many parts of Dhaka city are moving slowly due to incessant showers for the last few days, triggering traffic chaos, said a press release of DMP.

Besides, rainwater also filled the big potholes developed due to the ongoing construction works on roads.

In such situation, the SSC examinees have been requested to start for their respective examination centers as early as possible to avoid traffic congestion, said the release.

The SSC and its equivalent examinations under all 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.

The examinations will begin at 11 am this year instead of 10 am considering the traffic jams.

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

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

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.