Vaccinate students before reopening educational institutions

It is very unfortunate that students in Bangladesh are harassed and assaulted when they go to get their Covid jab, while in developed countries including France, Germany, Austria and Italy, there have been anti-vaccine protests. Previously, ordinary people going for their vaccine also faced all sorts of suffering. But why should even students face such hassle for the vaccine?

Some people in developed countries are protesting against the Covid vaccination. They think every citizen has rights to decide they take the vaccine or not. The state cannot force anyone. Citizens also demonstrated against restrictions in those countries.

But it is quite the opposite in Bangladesh. Students wait in long queues not only in Dhaka but also in district towns to receive the vaccine. School and college students who queued up for the Covid vaccine were beaten up in Thakurgaon. Students could not get the vaccine in many places after long in a line. Volunteers of the vaccine centres beat the students with sticks in Thakurgaon’s Adhunik Sadar Hospital in the morning of 17 February. According to the sources at the civil surgeon office, a target was set to vaccinate 162,859 students aged 12-17 in Thakurgaon. Vaccinations began on 28 December last year in the district. As of 16 February, 115,502 students received the first dose of Covid vaccine and 62,088 students got the second dose in Thakurgaon.

On the same day, 17 February, education minister Dipu Moni at a press conference in Dhaka announced secondary, higher secondary and tertiary education institutions would reopen on 22 February. Students receiving the second dose of vaccine would only be allowed to attend in-person classes. The remaining students would take online and television classes until they receive the second dose. And, primary schools would open two weeks later, she said.

Under these circumstances, it is only natural that students of secondary and higher secondary educational institutions would throng the centres to get vaccinated. There are about 12.8 million (1.28 crore) students studying in Class 6 to Class twelve across the country. Of them, over 12.66 million (12,657,222) students received the first dose and over 3.34 (34.40 lakh) students took the second dose. According the education minister, most of the students would receive the second dose of vaccine by 21 February.

This remark of the education ministry will not reassure the students and their guardians at all. What would happen to the students left unvaccinated? On the one hand, the government claims to have adequate stock of vaccines, but on the other hand they cannot immunise the students. A lack of coordination has been noticed among the various government agencies over vaccines since the beginning. There was less stock of vaccine at the beginning, all people could not get it. Why would this be repeated now?

Our unequivocal demand is that arrangements be made to vaccinate the students before reopening the educational institutions. The government must ensure that not a single student is left out of the classroom due to lack of vaccines.