The revised guidelines for the Junior Scholarship Examination 2025 for class-eight students have been published.
According to the new guidelines, students of class eight in approved educational institutions will be eligible to participate in the Junior Scholarship Examination based on merit and specific quotas. The Ministry of Education issued the revised guidelines on Sunday (5 October).
Under the new policy, a minimum of 20 per cent and a maximum of 40 per cent students of class eight enrolled in approved secondary or lower secondary educational institutions may sit for the Junior Scholarship Examination.
Additionally, if a student transfers from another school with a clearance certificate, their previous school’s merit ranking must be taken into account when including their name on the list.
If any non-student participates in the examination, action will be taken against the head teacher of the respective institution, and the candidate’s application will be cancelled.
Exam in five subjects, total marks 400
The new guidelines state that the examination will be held on five subjects: Bangla, English, Mathematics, Science, with Bangladesh and Global Studies.
Bangla, English, and Mathematics will each carry 100 marks, while Science as well as Bangladesh and Global Studies will carry 50 marks each, totalling 400 marks. The examination duration will be three hours for general students, with an additional 30 minutes allocated for students with special needs.
Two categories of scholarships
According to the scholarship policy, the Junior Scholarship will be awarded in two categories—Talent Pool Scholarship and General Scholarship. In both categories, 50 per cent of the awards will be reserved for boys and 50 per cent for girls.
Talent Pool Scholarships will be distributed based on the total number of scholarships determined at the upazila or thana and national levels. In the case of an odd number of scholarships, priority will be given to students with higher scores rather than the last candidate. General Scholarships will be distributed according to the same upazila or thana-based system.
The examination will be conducted following the textbooks and question structures prepared by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) for class eight. Scholarships will be awarded to students based on merit or quota, according to their highest marks obtained in the examination.