The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examinations 2017 began across the country this morning.

A total of 11,83,686 examinees -- 6,35,697 boys and 5,47,989 girls -- from 8,864 institutions under eight general education boards, Madrasah Education Board, Bangladesh Technical Education Board and Diploma in Business Studies (DIBS) Board are appearing at the HSC and its equivalent examinations this year through 2,497 examination centres across the country.

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Of them, 9,82,783 examinees are sitting for HSC examination, while 99,320 for Alim examination, 96,914 for HSC (BM/Vocational) examination and 4,669 examinees for DIBS examination.

Among the general boards, the highest 3,36,693 examinees are appearing under Dhaka Board, 1,23,616 under Rajshahi Board, 1,06,772 under Dinajpur Board, 1,04,129 under Jessore Board, 1,01,450 under Comilla Board, 83,193 under Chittagong Board, 65,368 under Sylhet and 61,562 under Barisal Board.

In the eight general education boards, a total of 2,17,521 candidates are sitting for the HSC examination from the science group, including agriculture and home economics, while 4,98,005 from humanities group and 2,67,257 from business studies group.

A total of 271 examinees are appearing at the HSC examination through seven oversees examination centres --two each in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and one each in Qatar, Libya and Bahrain.

In 2016, a total of 12,18,628 examinees from 8,533 institutions sat for the HSC and its equivalent examinations through 2,452 examination centres in the country.

The written examinations will end on May 1 while the practical tests will be held from May 16 to May 25.