XI admission to end by Sept 15, online applications likely to open next week

Admission to Class XI at colleges, madrasas and technical institutions across the country is expected to begin next week, with the entire process scheduled to be completed by September 15, education officials said Wednesday (August 12).

Dhaka Education Board Secretary Prof SM Kamal Uddin Haider said the application date has yet to be finalised but is likely to be announced by Sunday or Monday.

“The date for Class XI admission has not been fixed yet. Hopefully, it will be decided by Sunday or Monday next week,” Haider told reporters at the Dhaka board.

The Education Ministry has instructed authorities to complete the admission process for the new academic year by September 15. The decision came shortly after this year’s Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examination results were published on Monday.

This year, 11,38,877 students passed the SSC and equivalent examinations out of 18,29,485 candidates, with the overall pass rate falling to 62.25%. A total of 1,16,676 students secured GPA-5.

The lower pass rate is expected to leave a substantial number of seats vacant at the higher secondary level. According to Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee data, Bangladesh has 9,314 institutions offering higher secondary education, with total capacity of around 2.75 million seats.

Of these, 8,071 colleges and madrasas under nine general education boards and the Madrasa Education Board have 25,90,387 seats in Class XI. More than 1,000 technical institutions under the Technical Education Board have an additional 150,000-plus seats.

Based on this year's SSC results, officials estimate that nearly 1.7 million seats could remain vacant. The number could rise further as a portion of SSC graduates traditionally do not enrol in higher secondary education.

Education officials and institution authorities said the decline in the number of eligible students could significantly reshape this year's admission landscape, particularly for institutions already struggling with student shortages.

Rather than competing for seats, many colleges and other institutions may find attracting enough students to be the bigger challenge this year.