Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations under ten education boards this year will begin on Sunday.

A total of 1432,727 students will appear in the exams. Of them, 733,202 students are male and 699,525 female.

“The SSC examinations will be held under creative question papers except Bangla second paper, English first paper, English second paper and mathematics,” Nurul Islam Nahid, education minister, told reporters while speaking at a press conference in the capital Dhaka on Saturday.

The minister also said the system was introduced in 2010 for a qualitative improvement in the education sector.

“We are bringing back discipline in the entire education sector to ensure a meaningful change for improving the quality of education,” the minister said, adding now public examinations are being held in a specific time of the academic calendar.

Besides, results of these examinations are also being published within a stipulated time, he added.

A total of 1090,555 students will participate in the SSC examination under eight general education boards. Of the students, 536,217 candidates are male and 558,338 female.

As many as 239,749 students will appear in the Dhakhil examinations while 102,423 students will participate in the SSC (vocational) examination.

At the press conference, the minister said the number of examinees have increased by 129,554 this year compared to last year.

As many as 1303,203 students appeared in the SSC and equivalent examinations in 2013. Of them, 668,268 students were male and 634,935 female.

BBN/SSR/AD-08Feb14-8:09 pm (BST)