Education sector facing numerous risks for COVID-19: Dipu Moni

The education sector of the country has been facing numerous risks due to ongoing coronavirus pandemic, said education minister Dipu Moni Tuesday.

The minister said this at a virtual meeting with the representatives of the United Nations (UN) on Tuesday night.

The education institutes have been closed for a long time which is causing many children to drop out while at the same time the number of child labour and child marriage are rising, she said.

Despite having all preparations, annual examinations of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) were not held, she said adding that students facing different psychological complications for school, college closures.

Digital technology has been helping the country to face numerous problems caused by the pandemic, Dipu Moni said.

“Online education process is underway but 10 per cent of students which are huge in number are unable to avail the online education,” she said.

The government is not planning resuming educational institutions anytime soon as it can increase the transmission of disease, the minister said.

“Bangladesh is a densely populated country where maintaining physical distance is difficult,” she said.