The government has issued guidelines for admission to government secondary schools, keeping the lottery system once again mandatory for admission to class 1.

In 2011, the incumbent government introduced the lottery system for enrolment of class-one-graders in the government secondary schools.

Education Ministry Sunday issued the circular that asked chairmen of all education boards including Director General (DG) of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education to take necessary action in this regard.

"Like the previous year, students will have to be selected through lottery and the draw must be held in a transparent manner in presence of the authorised admission committee members", the guideline said.  

Education Secretary Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury signed circular said a waiting list of the admission aspirants will also be prepared doing the selection process.

"If any selected candidate fails to complete admission by the given deadline, students from the waiting list will gradually be called in to fill in vacancies.

In the Class VI students' enrolment, 10 per cent of the total seats will be kept reserved for the students who will come from government primary schools.

Also, five per cent seats will be reserved for the children of freedom-fighters, two per cent for children with disabilities and another two per cent for children of government officials.   

According to the guidelines, students must be selected from grades two to eight based on the merit list following a written test while the ninth grade students will be enrolled based on their Junior School Certificate (JSC) examination results.

The authorities also fixed Tk 100 as application fee. The circular issued said the authorities will take action, if any school charges more than Tk 700 as admission and session fees.

As per the guidelines, the admission aspirants in class 1 must be between the age group of five and seven years by first January, 2013. The attested copy of birth registration card must be submitted along with the application form to prove the age limit.

A 13-memebre committee led by the DG of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education will be formed to oversee the admission process only in the Dhaka metropolitan area.

Apart from that, an eight-member strong committee led by Deputy Commissioners (DC) will be formed in the districts and another four-member committee led by the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) will be formed in upazilas outside the capital to oversee the admission.

Fifty per cent of the total earnings from the admission form sales will go for expenses for taking the admission test while the remaining fund will have to be deposited with the admission committee.