Curriculum canceled: Upcoming SSC will have a shortened syllabus, angry parents

❐ Staff Reporter

The Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Dhaka has released the syllabus for the 2026 SSC examination. The published notice states that regular candidates will take the exam in a shortened syllabus. However, irregular and quality improvement candidates will have to take the exam according to the full syllabus.

This information was given in a notice signed by the board’s examination controller, Professor S. M. Kamal Uddin Haider, on Tuesday afternoon.

The notice states that the examination for regular candidates of the 2026 SSC and equivalent examinations will be held according to the revised short syllabus prepared and published by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB).

On the other hand, those who have failed in one or more subjects or are dissatisfied with the results and want to retake the exam will take the exam according to the full syllabus of the 2025 SSC exam.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, SSC and equivalent exams were conducted with a shortened syllabus until 2024. Then, the exams were held with a full syllabus in 2025. However, the curriculum prepared during the Awami League government was recently canceled. As a result, NCTB has decided to organize the upcoming 2026 SSC exams with a shortened syllabus again.

In this regard, Professor Dr. Rabiul Kabir Chowdhury, a member of the NCTB’s Secondary Curriculum Department and the routine responsibilities of the organization’s chairman, said, “Those who studied in the new curriculum in grade nine in 2024 are the SSC examinees of 2026. The decision was taken to cancel the curriculum prepared during the Awami League government.”

He said, “The creative curriculum prepared in 2012 has been reverted. As a result, students have studied that curriculum for only one year in the 10th grade. Therefore, a short syllabus suitable for one year has been prepared for them. The exams will be conducted based on this syllabus.”

Meanwhile, after learning about the issue of taking the exam with such a short syllabus, there has been a strong reaction from the parents’ circle since yesterday. There is a lot of criticism on social media about this.

A parent named Hasib Mohammad wrote: “This is how the children’s education has improved. The Yunus government has turned everyone into politicians. I have not seen a proper environment for education for a year. In the meantime, important exams like SSC will be taken in a short syllabus. These children will be behind in everything for the rest of their lives. The quality of their education is already so bad that their future is completely dark.”

Another parent named Rehana Begum wrote: “Why does SSC have to be on a short syllabus? I don’t understand! All you have to do is stop the children’s studies. Everyone in this country will protest, so there is no need to study. Even the illiterate ones protest and succeed. Whether they study or not, they take the fees at the end of the month. Elections, protests, fights, murders, all the bad things are going on in the campuses. The whole country has turned into a circus. And Yunus Saheb is its ring master.”