Proposal to cancel PEC exam to be sent to PM: State minister

The primary and mass education ministry will send a proposal to the prime minister over cancellation of the Primary Education Completion (PEC) exams due to the coronavirus pandemic, said state minister for primary and mass education Md Zakir Hossain.

“We’d a meeting over the issue… we discussed the PEC examination and the overall planning about primary education. A summary will be sent to the prime minister for approval,” he told news agency UNB.

Mahbub Hossain, secretary to the secondary and higher education department, said no decision has been taken as yet to send any proposal over cancellation of the Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) examinations.

“No decision has been taken as yet over cancellation of the exams and no proposal has been sent to the prime minister in this regard,” he said.

“A meeting is scheduled to be held this week where issues regarding the examinations and reopening of schools will be discussed,” he said.

On 16 March, the government closed all the educational institutions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Later, on 29 July, the government has again extended the closure of all the educational institutions of the country until 31 August considering the coronavirus situation.

The government is running a distance-learning programme through Sangsad Television. Apart from this, classes are being taken on Facebook and YouTube for primary and secondary-level students.

Many private universities have already started offering online classes as the University Grant Commission (UGC) on 24 March urged teachers to take online classes so that academic activities are not interrupted.

Bangladesh’s reported coronavirus death tally reached 3,471 on Tuesday after the health authorities announced 33 more deaths in the last 24 hours.

Besides, 2,996 new cases were identified after testing 14,820 samples, pushing up the number of cases to 263,503, the health directorate said.