Time hasn’t come yet to reopen educational institutions: Secretary

Cabinet secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam on Monday said time has not come yet to reopen the educational institutions of the country.

"I don’t think time has come to reopen schools and colleges," he said responding to a question while briefing reporters about the outcome of the weekly cabinet meeting held at the Bangladesh Secretariat.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting.

About the postponed HSC examinations, he said the ministry of education is actively discussing the issues relating to the HSC and other examinations, and they will look into the matters.

"After scrutinising everything, they’ll take a decision quickly and they’re strongly thinking about that," the cabinet secretary added.

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

Meanwhile, the death toll from coronavirus in Bangladesh hit 3,983 on Monday, with 42 new fatalities being reported in the past 24 hours.

Health authorities detected 2,485 new patients, raising the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 297,083 on the 25th week of first infection of the virus.