After a long hiatus of about a year and a half, the National Technical Advisory Committee on Corona has decided to reopen the country’s educational institutions. The committee came up with this in view of the declining corona infection.
The advisory committee met on Thursday night to decide on the reopening of the educational institution. After the meeting, the chairman of the committee Prof. Mohammad Sahidullah told Prothom Alo at 12:15 pm that the positive rate of corona has decreased. Without it, corona vaccination is slowly being confirmed. For this, considering the overall situation and subject to taking some precautionary measures regarding public health, now the educational institution can be opened.
The decision will be officially communicated to the Ministry of Education.
Earlier, a meeting was held on August 28 at the initiative of the Ministry of Education. However, according to the Ministry of Education, the plan to reopen the university after October 15 may change subject to negotiation. That means time may come forward. However, the universities themselves decide on education.
At the meeting, it was decided to seek the advice of the Technical Advisory Committee on Corona on whether the educational institution can be opened if the corona infection rate drops to 5 to 10 percent up to the higher secondary level. The technical committee met on Thursday night to seek that decision. That’s where the idea of opening an educational institution came up.
According to the Ministry of Education, an inter-ministerial meeting has been called next Sunday to take a final decision on the reopening of the educational institution. It may be decided to open this meeting after detailed discussions.
Due to Corona, holidays have been going on in the educational institutions of the country since March 16 last year. According to a report released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on August 24, Bangladesh is the second longest country in the world to close schools due to Covid-19. More than four crore students from pre-primary to higher education level have been affected due to the long shutdown.
After opening almost everything, now the issue of opening an educational institution has come up for discussion. In a meeting of the secretaries on August 18, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the concerned parties to take steps to reopen the educational institutions as soon as possible considering the situation of corona infection and vaccination. Also on Thursday, the Prime Minister told the National Assembly that he had directed to open schools and colleges as soon as possible. Action is being taken accordingly.
The ongoing holiday at the educational institution will end on September 11. According to the Ministry of Education, the leave may not be extended after that. Maybe the decision to open the educational institution step by step from September 12 may come. Education Minister Dipu Moni hinted at this on a private television program on Thursday night.
