Dhaka, June 26 -- On the first day of the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent exams, 43 candidates were expelled over "cheating" and 19,759 recorded as absent across the country.

According to the Inter-Education Board Coordination Committee, the HSC exam on Thursday started with the Bangla First Paper, Alim with Quran Majeed, and vocational, BMT and Diploma-in-Commerce streams with Bangla-2.

A total of six candidates were expelled from the Bangla First Paper exam under nine general education boards, where 932,790 students were scheduled to appear in 1,608 centres. From 1,599 reporting centres, only 918,277 attended, while 14,513 were absent.

Expulsions were reported as follows: three under Comilla Board, and one each unde...