SSC exams to shift to December, align with new curriculum

The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has announced significant changes to the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams and their alignment with a new curriculum.

Starting December 2025, SSC and equivalent exams will be held annually at the end of the academic year, a departure from the previous February schedule. This shift aims to synchronise exams with the new curriculum's year-end structure.

The new format will focus solely on the 10th-grade syllabus, with written exams accounting for 65% of the evaluation and activity-oriented assessments contributing the remaining 35%. Exams are expected to last 5 hours.

Subjects tested will include Bengali, English, Mathematics, Science, History and Social Science, Digital Technology, Life and Livelihood, Religious Education, Health Protection, Arts, and Culture. This represents a change from the prior system that incorporated content from both the 9th and 10th grades.

Professor Farhadul Islam, chairman of NCTB, clarified the revised structure. "The 9th-grade exam will assess the 9th-grade curriculum, while the 10th-grade exam, designated as a public exam, will solely cover the 10th-grade syllabus."

The first exam under the new system is scheduled for December 2025 and will consist of ten subjects, each with a single paper, he added.

Professor Islam hinted at further adjustments to the SSC exam, including potential modifications and an extension of exam duration. These details are expected to be finalised at an upcoming meeting followed by public announcements. A workshop on May 27 may also yield additional decisions.

The new curriculum committee has mandated that both half-yearly and final exams will contribute to a 7-step school evaluation process.

Consequently, the SSC exam will be held in December, although a potential name change remains under discussion. All decisions regarding the new curriculum are anticipated to be finalised by the end of May.

Previously, the evaluation committee proposed that the 2026 SSC exam would be the first to follow the new curriculum. This public exam will encompass ten subjects, all assessed through written tests.

Students will be required to stay at exam centres for the entire 5-hour duration, with breaks allotted for each subject evaluation. Similar to the current system, assessments will be conducted at designated centres.

To effectively administer the revamped SSC exams, a resource pool of 600 subject-specific teachers will be established. These educators will undergo a rigorous seven-day training program led by NCTB specialists.

Additionally, each of the eleven education boards will select a total of 44 teachers, four for each subject, to contribute to the examination process.