Primary and mass education minister Mostafizur Rahman Fizar said yesterday (Thursday) that the Primary Education Completion (PEC) exams would continue till the Cabinet takes a decision. The minister was addressing a press briefing at the Secretariat. The PEC and equivalent exams are scheduled to begin on November 20.  “It has been decided in principle to extend primary education up to Class VIII, but it is yet to be implemented. The Cabinet will decide whether the PEC exams will continue in future. The PEC and Junior School Certificate (JSC) exams will continue at the primary level till a decision is taken by the Cabinet,” the minister said. He also said primary education would be up to Class VIII as per the National Education Policy, but it has not been fully implemented due to some complexities such as infrastructure and budget.  He further said that the education ministry would send the proposal to the Cabinet to implement the upgrading of primary education up to Class VIII. “The education ministry does not lack willingness to send the proposal. I hope it will be implemented by 2018,” he added.
 The minister said 3,230,288 students would appear for the PEC and Ebtedayee exams at 7,194 centres this year. This is 24,226 less than last year's 32,54,514. “We don’t have any information why the number has dropped,” he added.
 This year, 2,930,573 would sit for the PEC exams—13,46,32 boys and 15,84,541 girls. A total of 2,99,715 would sit for the Ebtedayee exams. Of them, 1,57,319 are boys and 1,42,396 girls. The minister said the exams would begin on November 20 and continue till November 27.
 The government has framed the policy by keeping everyone in mind. This year, 2,857 autistic students would appear for the PEC exams and 90 autistic students for the Ebtedayee exams. The minister also said vigilance teams have been formed to monitor the exams across the country.  Ministry sources said Mostafizur Rahman would visit the exam centre at Agrani School and College, at Lalbagh in the capital, at 10:30am on November 20.