Steps being taken to reopen educational institutions: Cabinet secy
The education ministry is taking steps for reopening the educational institutions in accordance with the directives of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Cabinet secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam disclosed this while talking to newsmen after a cabinet meeting at the secretariat on Monday.
The education ministry will make it clear at a press briefing.
Earlier, at a meeting with secretaries on Wednesday, prime minister Sheikh Hasina gave directives to reopen the educational institutions as soon as possible considering the coronavirus situation and progress of the vaccination drive.
The cabinet secretary said the education ministry is developing a programme to reopen the educational institutions as soon as possible.
The country's educational institutions have remained closed since 17 March last year due to the outbreak of coronavirus. According to the latest announcement of the government, all the educational institutions in the country will remain closed till 31 August.
Due to the closure of educational institutions for the last 17 months, the education of about 40 million students has been severely affected. Although the government has been trying to keep the students active in various alternative ways including online assignments and classes, they are not getting the essence of the classroom.
On the other hand, everyone is not getting the benefit of this. The mental and physical development of the students is also being hampered.
There was discussion about this issue in the meeting of the secretaries on Wednesday.
During the meeting, prime minister Sheikh Hasina said, “It is essential to reopen the educational institutions. We have to take initiatives regarding this as soon as possible not for the universities only, but for all the schools too. It has become the most important issue now as the children are fed up with being confined in their houses. We have to keep our focus on this issue.”
Khandker Anwarul Islam told reporters that the prime minister had instructed that the educational activities in schools, colleges and universities should be carried out online or digitally. And all students above 18 years of old should be brought under the vaccination drive quickly.
When asked if there were any specific plans for when the educational institutions could open, the cabinet secretary said the prime minister had asked to focus on two issues.
The first one is to observe whether the pandemic situation improves or not and the second is to assess the progress of the vaccination drive.
According to the education ministry, their plan is to open the universities first. Later other educational institutions will be opened in phases. However, the timing is not fixed yet.