Scholarship examinations are being reintroduced for madrasa students at Ibtedayi (equivalent to primary level) and for Grade 8 students across the country.

The exams are likely to be held in the last week of December, as part of an initiative by interim government to revive merit-based support for students in both general and religious education systems.

According to sources from Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board, Ibtedayi scholarship exam will cover six subjects across five papers: Quran Majid, Aqeedah & Fiqh, Arabic (first and second papers), Bangla, English, and a combined paper on Mathematics and Science. Each paper will carry 100 marks. The last time Ibtedayi students sat for such a scholarship exam under Directorate of Primary Education was in 2008.

Tentative dates for the exams are December 21, 22, 23, 24 and 28. Students from both independent Ibtedayi madrasas and Ibtedayi sections affiliated with Dakhil madrasas, approved by Madrasa Board, will be eligible.

However, only up to 40% of fifth-grade students from each institution will be allowed to participate.

Confirming the news, Professor Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan, Exam Controller of Madrasa Education Board, said that detailed syllabuses and mark distributions will be published soon.

Meanwhile, Directorate of Primary Education has announced similar scholarship exams for general primary students in government primary schools, government secondary school-attached primary sections and PTI lab schools.

Like the madrasa system, up to 40% of fifth-grade students from each school will be eligible to take part.

However, kindergarten students will not be allowed to participate.

The primary scholarship exams are scheduled for December 21 to 24 and will consist of 400 marks across four papers. Bangla, English and Mathematics will carry 100 marks each. The remaining 100 marks will be split between Bangladesh and Global Studies (50 marks) and Primary Science (50 marks). Each paper will last two and a half hours.

Mohammad Nazrul Islam, Assistant Director of Administration at Directorate of Primary Education, confirmed that official notices have already been sent to Upazila Primary Education Officers.

Previously, the practice of holding fifth-grade scholarship exams was replaced by the Primary Education Completion (PEC) exam in 2009.

However, the scholarship exams were reintroduced on a trial basis in December 2022. Based on those results, over 82,000 students received scholarships in February 2023; 33,000 in talent pool category and 49,383 in the general category.

In a related development, the Ministry of Education has also decided to reinstate Junior Scholarship Exam for Grade 8 students.

However, participation will be limited to a selected number of candidates.

According to Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), discussions have already been held and an official decision will be announced soon.

Prior to 2010, Junior Scholarship Exam was conducted separately. It was later replaced by Junior School Certificate (JSC) exam, which was discontinued in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, no alternative examination had been introduced under the revised curriculum until now.