Primary and Mass Education Minister Mostafizur Rahman yesterday said the government has decided to drop Multiple Choice Question from Primary Education Completion (PEC) exams from this year.

"We have decided to drop the MCQ from the next PEC examinations. The decision came following recommendations of educationalists to prevent question leaks in public examinations," he told a press conference at his secretariat office in the capital.

The ministry organised the press briefing to announce the results of PEC scholarship exams, reports BSS.

Mostafizur said there would be no problem in doing away with MCQ as the next PEC exams would be held in November.

Primary and Mass Education Secretary Asif-uz-Zaman, additional secretaries Md Gias Uddin Ahmed and Akram-al Hossain were present, among others.

According to a UNB report, the minister said a total of 82,473 students have got scholarships in the PEC exams last year.

The scholarships were given in two categories -talent pool and general -on the basis of highest marks obtained in the exams held in November last year.

Among the students, 32,998 got scholarships in talent pool and 49,475 in general category.

Usually, 82,500 students get scholarships, including 33,000 in talent pool and 49,500 in general category. But, this time the quota was not used up for shortage of two students in talent pool and 25 in general category.