Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon has said students were awarded only the marks they earned in this year’s SSC and equivalent examinations, stressing that examination scripts cannot be marked generously.

He said, “You can sing your heart out, but you can’t just give away marks.”

He made the remark while responding to questions from journalists at an event organised at the Ministry of Education today (10 August) to mark the publication of the SSC and equivalent examination results.

According to Prothom Alo, a journalist asked the minister why the press conference had not been particularly celebratory and suggested that he had given rather diplomatic answers.

In response, the minister said, “You tell me how it could be celebratory. I said you can sing your heart out, but you can’t just give away marks. What more can I say?”

The minister did not describe this year’s examination results as poor. Rather, he said the results were satisfactory.

He also said this year’s review process would allow for re-examination or re-evaluation of answer scripts.

He said, “Previously, students dissatisfied with their results could apply for scrutiny, which involved checking only errors in the calculation of marks or serious mistakes in assessing answers, rather than a fresh re-evaluation of the answer scripts.”

According to the minister, this year’s scrutiny process has been expanded to allow for re-examination or re-evaluation of answer scripts.