The academic activities of schools across the country will remain open during the month of Ramadan.
The primary and secondary schools will remain open for the first 10 and 15 days respectively in Ramadan.
The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education asked the educational institutes to take necessary measures to continue teaching activities in government primary schools for the first 10 days of Ramadan. On the other hand, all the public and private secondary and lower secondary schools were asked to continue classes from March 11 to 25.
The government has taken the decision following an order of the Supreme Court in this regard. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday (March 12) stayed a High Court order that was for keeping primary and secondary schools closed in the holy month of Ramadan,
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan issued the order following a hearing on an appeal filed challenging the High Court order.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin stood for the state in the top court, while Advocate AKM Faiz stood for the writ petitioner. The Attorney General told the media that following the Appellate Division order there will be no bar to running schools during the month of Ramadan.
During the hearing, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin pointed to practices in other
Muslim-majority countries to argue for keeping educational institutions in Bangladesh open in the month of Ramadan.
He referred to Saudi Arabia’s plan to keep schools open until the last week of March before closing them from Mar 27 to April 12.
AM Amin Uddin also noted that Iran would only shut schools for two days and provided examples from Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Malaysia.
Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan then questioned Advocate AKM Foyez on their reasoning for seeking school closures. “It is a different context in our country. Here the parents are affected as well. They, too, go through difficulties if the schools are open,” said the petitioner’s lawyer.
The chief justice countered, “Why? I see mothers wearing sarees and going out.” The court subsequently suspended the High Court order.
After the apex court’s order, the two ministries concerned officially announced the school schedules.
Earlier on Sunday, the HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Khizir Hayat issued the order for closure of primary and secondary schools during Ramadan. The higher court had issued the order following a petition seeking closure of school activities during Ramadan.
On February 8, the government amended the holiday list for educational institutions keeping the regular activities of secondary schools open for 15 days during the month of Ramadan. The Ministry of Education had issued a notice in this regard.
In another notice, the Primary and Mass Education Ministry issued a notice to keep the activities of primary schools during the month of Ramadan for ten days.
On February 25, Advocate Md Ilias Ali Mandal, a guardian and a lawyer of the Supreme Court, filed the writ petition, challenging the two orders of the government.
As the government filed an appeal against the stay order given by the High Court, the apex court led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hasan issued the order on Tuesday, saying that the educational institutions will remain open until further notice.