The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations-2017 under ten education boards across the country have begun on Thursday.The examinations began from 10am and it will continue till 1pm at 3236 centres across the country.Earlier, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid told that this year, 17,86,613 students-9,10,501 boys and 8,76,112 girls-will take part in the examinations.Of them, 14,25,900 students will sit for the SSC examination under eight general education boards. Some 2,56501 students will appear in the Dakhil examinations while 1,4212 students will participate in the SSC (vocational) examination, he added.A total of 16,51,523 students from 28,119 educational institutions appeared in the SSC and equivalent examinations last year. Of them 8,42,933 students were male and 8,08,590 female.