Education ministry's plans and returning to the classrooms

Education in the country has been ensnared in the coronavirus crisis, but now the government has decided to bring SSC and HSC students back to the classroom from February. After that, there are plans to gradually restart the classrooms for the secondary and primary level students. And the HSC assessment results held up last year, will be published in January.

The government has taken up several plans to restart studies. Inaugurating the distribution of textbooks among students at the start of the academic year, prime minister Sheikh Hasina said educational institutions will be opened up when the coronavirus situation clears. If it doesn't, the institutions will not open.

Educational institutions have been closed since 18 March last year and the closure remains in force till 16 January.

The education ministry has said that the syllabus of SSC and its equivalent will be announced by 15 January. Based on this, the students of SSC and equivalent level will resume studies in their classrooms from February till April. Then the exams will tentatively be held around June.

Education cannot remain on hold for as long as coronavirus continues. Just as other sectors are adjusting to the corona situation, efforts must be made in the case of education too

Similarly, based on the amended syllabus, the HSC and equivalent exams will probably be held in July-August.

These students were unable to complete their syllabus and so the exams will be held on the basis of an amended syllabus. The syllabus will be shortened, keeping in mind the subjects which are essential for the next level.

While the SSC exam was held last year, the HSC exam could not be held due to coronavirus. Everyone was promoted without any exam and their results were based on the previous SSC and JSC exams. There are 1,365,789 HSC and equivalent level examines this time. Many of them will not get the opportunity for higher education.

It will be hard for the students to tackle studies of the next level after having remained away from the classrooms for almost a year. The teachers will have to be extra attentive in teaching the students, conducting classes on holidays if necessary.

While the primary level is the most important level of education, our policymakers do not pay adequate attention to this. This level lacks quality teachers and proper infrastructure facilities. There is a lack of educational equipment. If the students at this level are unable to learn properly, they will naturally remain weak at the higher level.

Educationists and others concerned have hailed the government's plans. However, they said that plans are not enough. There must be preparation and supervision to implement the plans. Many good plans are taken up in our country, but these are not implemented due to the shortcomings of those concerned.

Education cannot remain on hold for as long as coronavirus continues. Just as other sectors are adjusting to the corona situation, efforts must be made in the case of education too. Of course, proper importance must be attached to the safety of the students' health.