Higher secondary examinees in Cumilla waded through knee- and waist-deep water to reach exam centres on Monday after overnight downpours inundated much of the city, while the Chattogram Education Board suspended its own exams because of rain and flooding.

Students taking the physics, accounting and logic papers were seen struggling to enter the Cumilla Victoria Government College and Cumilla Government Women’s College centres on time. Some fell into open drains and sat the exams in wet clothing, parents said. The flooding left most low-lying neighbourhoods of Cumilla city waterlogged after heavy rain that began past midnight.

The Chattogram Education Board suspended its examinations because of rain and flooding, but the Cumilla board did not issue a similar decision, leaving students to cross floodwater to sit their examinations.

Cumilla Board Exam Controller Muhammad Shafiqur Rahman acknowledged the difficulty. “There were some problems because of continuous rain since midnight,” he told Bonik Barta. “I visited the exam halls myself, along with the district commissioner and the board’s college inspector, and gave instructions. Where there was a problem, we shifted candidates elsewhere.”

He said only the two centres in Cumilla city reported difficulties, out of 193 centres across the board’s six districts.

Board Chairman Professor Ahsan Parvez said the education minister had not issued any directive regarding the Cumilla board exams. “We will speak to the minister and take a decision if the weather remains adverse,” he said.