Educational institutions will remain closed till June 12, and may reopen on June 13.
Within this period, Coronavirus transmission is expected to be brought under control and the government is well prepared to open schools-colleges, said Dipu Moni, the Minister for Education at a virtual press conference yesterday.
She further mentioned that SSC and HSC candidates of 2021 will take part in the exams after attending classes 60 days and 84 days respectively.
"If we can open the schools and colleges on June 13, the SSC-HSC batch of 2021 will be given priority. They may come to class six days a week. Moreover, SSC-HSC examinees of 2022 will be brought to class on days other than holidays," said Dipu Moni.
Meanwhile, a short syllabus for SSC and HSC examinations will be prepared in 2022 as in 2021. The syllabus will be of 150 days for SSC while 180 days for HSC. There will be assignment classes two days a week from next June.
However, the Corona vaccination will be ensured emphasizing on the health protection of teachers and students before opening the universities, the minister said.
She said, "Even though the universities were supposed to reopen in May, there were some challenges in complying with the health protocols in the dormitories. Therefore, it is important to ensure vaccination. The vaccination crisis in the middle could not confirm that. Now that the new doses of vaccines are to arrive, we are going to make it a priority for residential students in the dormitory halls to get the new doses."
The Education Minister further said, "Even though the institutions are closed, the educational activities are ongoing amid restrictions. We want to reopen the educational institutions soon. In the meantime, we wait for the situation to get better."
Not only the health of students but also their families are in the consideration of the government, she said. There are many elderly people in their homes.
Dipu Moni said that the decision to open school-college has always been made by the consultants of the 'National Technical Advisory Committee' formed to address the Corona challenge and the scientific solutions provided by them. The question is what percentage of the infection rate can be called 'Considerably reduced' and in fact it is possible to open educational institutions. However, the infection rate is still above 5 percent. It has to be decided with awareness.
Dipu Moni added, "Not all students have access to the internet and digital phones. As a result, assignment-based education has been introduced to reduce inequality, and the risk of dropping out has been decreased. Therefore, about 93 percent of students have taken part in these assignment classes."
Earlier on Sunday, the Secretary of the Ministry of Secondary and Higher Education Mahbub Hossain told the media that the Ministry of Education has decided to extend the leave of the educational institutions due to the ongoing lockdown and extension of the time limit for dealing with the pandemic.
Educational institutions in Bangladesh have been closed since March 17, last year after patients were identified with Coronavirus. The leave has been extended in several phases. However, education activities are already ongoing in various educational institutions through online classes and assignments.
