Shutdown of educational institutions extended further

The government has decided to extend the shutdown of educational institutions until 14 February due to the COVID-19 situation in the country. The education ministry published a media release in this regard today, Friday.

The media release said ongoing leave at all educational institutions (except Qawmi madrasah) has been extended due to the COVID-19. Education minister Dipu Moni informed the media of this after talking to all the concerned parties.

Earlier, on 15 January this year, the government extended the ongoing closure of educational institutions until 30 January.

The government made this decision, though the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) on 4 February published a health guideline to open the educational institutions, curbing the coronavirus infection.

All educational institutions in the country have been shut since 17 March last year due to outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease. The closure has been extended multiple times.

The studies of over 40 million students in the country have been disrupted as the institutions have remained shut for long.

The government has already annulled this year’s Junior School Certificate (JSC), Junior Dakhil Certificate (Dakhil) and HSC examinations due to the coronavirus situation in the country. Neither were the HSC exams held this year.

On 7 October 2020, the government announced that the HSC and equivalent exams would not be held this year due to COVID-19 situation in Bangladesh. Instead, the results would be announced considering the results of JSC, SSC and equivalent exams.

Besides, the school students were awarded auto-promotion without any final exams.

Bangladesh detected its first coronavirus case on 8 March and a patient first died on 18 March.

Though the shutdown of educational institutions has been extended several times, online education has carried out.

According to the education ministry and primary and mass education ministry, currently there are around 40 million students from the primary school to university level. Among them, around 17.5 million students study in primary schools, over 10 million studies in high schools, around five million studies in colleges and the rest studies in universities, madrasahs and English medium schools.

Though the online education activities through Sangsad TV, online, radio and smartphones have been going on, in reality, around 69.5 per cent students could not join in the process, revealed a survey by Campaign for popular education (CAMPE), a non-government advocacy and campaign network.