The education ministry will decide today whether to hold Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examination during hartal hours tomorrow.

The main opposition BNP on Thursday called the countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal in protest at the “disappearance” of Sylhet BNP Organising Secretary M Ilias Ali.

“We have already urged the opposition party to reconsider the matter in view of students' inconvenience. We will wait till tomorrow [today] and then make a decision on holding the exams,” Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid told The Daily Star yesterday.

“We have nothing to say about political programme. But we could request them not to hold any programme that hampers students' education,” he added.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Shahara Khatun and different organisations urged the BNP to call off its hartal in the best interests of the examinees.

“The government is trying its best to find the missing BNP leader. So the opposition should withdraw the strike,” Shahara told reporters after inaugurating a Baishakhi Fair and cultural show organised by Dhaka Metropolitan Police at capital's Rajarbagh Police Lines.

“Hartal will throw the HSC examinees into trouble as well as bringing miseries to the people,” she added.

The HSC and its equivalent examinations began on April 1 with 9.26 lakh examinees sitting under 10 education boards across the country. The written exams will end on May 20.

Bangladesh Insurance Association (BIA) Chairman Sheikh Kabir Hossain urged the BNP to call off the hartal, saying it would have an adverse impact on the national economy alongside affecting the public life and property, said a BIA press release.

The insurance companies will also be affected by the hartal since they will have to pay the claims arising from hartal fallout, he said.

BIA believes that all issues should be resolved through discussion with the government, the release added.

Tomorrow, the examinees were set to sit for the following papers -- Statistics (Theory) 1st Paper, Home Economics (Theory) 1st Paper, General Science and Food and Nutrition Science (Theory) 1st Paper (Chemistry), General Science and Food and Nutrition Science (Theory) 1st Paper (Biology), and Sports (Theory) 1st Paper.