Dipu Moni hints school not opening until Eid

The government is reviewing its decision to reopen the educational institutions on Mar 30 due to a rise in coronavirus infection, Dipu Moni has said. If the situation persists, the reopening of the secondary and higher secondary institutions may get delayed until after Eid-ul-Fitr when the universities are scheduled to resume in-person classes and exams, according to the education minister.

The ministry will announce the decision by Friday after discussions with the national advisory committee on COVID-19, she told reporters at an event in Dhaka on Thursday.

The minister reiterated that the government puts maximum priority on the health of the teachers, students, employees and parents.

“The infections had dropped in Bangladesh at such a rate that we became hopeful about reopening the secondary and higher secondary institutions, and even the primary schools gradually,” Dipu Moni said.

“But a new wave has hit the entire world, not just Bangladesh. Infections have surged rapidly here in the past few days. The death toll has also increased,” she said.

“In this situation, we are reviewing our previous decision to end the school shutdown. We will probably talk to the national advisory committee today and I hope we will be able to announce our decision by tomorrow,” she added.

Earlier this month, the education minister said the government may review the decision to reopen educational institutions if the rise in the coronavirus infection rate continues.

Dipu Moni announced in February that the schools and colleges would reopen on Mar 30 after a year of shutdown due to the outbreak. The government had earlier decided to reopen the universities on May 24.

The government cancelled the PEC tests for fifth graders, JSC tests for the eighth graders and annuals exams of other grades last year due to the pandemic while HSC results were published by averaging the scores of JSC and SSC tests.

It ordered the educational institutions to complete the preparation for in-person lessons attaching maximum priority to the health of the students, teachers and support staff so that they can reopen anytime as the outbreak ebbed in the beginning of this year.

The coronavirus infection rate has been rising again since early March. On Tuesday, Bangladesh logged 3,554 new cases of the coronavirus, the highest daily count in over eight months.

The caseload continued to jump by 3,567 to 580,808 in the daily count on Wednesday. The death toll climbed to 8,763 after 25 fatalities were registered in the same period.