Schools Reopening: Long wait is over Sept 12

With Covid-19 infections gradually going down, the government is set to reopen schools and colleges from September 12, allowing students to attend in-person classes in phases after around 18 months of closure.

Education Minister Dipu Moni made the announcement while attending a programme in Chandpur yesterday.

She said the authorities had already made all arrangements in this regard and that they would strictly monitor whether health rules are properly maintained at educational institutions.

Officials of the ministries of education and primary and mass education said examinees of this year's four public examinations, including SSC and HSC tests, would attend classes every day at first after the reopening.

Students of other classes would have in-person classes once or twice every week. The number of the class days would be increased depending on the Covid situation.

The government wants to hold the SSC and its equivalent examinations in the second week of November and the HSC and its equivalent tests in the first week of December.

The officials also said the government would keep the option of online classes functional as it wants to adopt a new "hybrid education learning system" combining in-person classes, online and TV learnings.

Handing and receiving assignments to and from secondary level students will continue. "We will carry on online classes and TV education in case some students might miss in-person classes due to illness or emergency reasons," a top official of the education ministry said.

Dipu Moni inaugurated a building of a school in Chandpur yesterday. Speaking there, she said, "We hope that we will be able to reopen educational institutions at the primary, secondary and higher secondary levels from September 12. We have already completed our preparations for reopening."

Universities, which are scheduled to reopen in mid-October, can resume in-person academic activities the same day, she said, adding that the universities would make the final decision in this regard.

The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in parliament said she had directed the authorities concerned to reopen all schools and colleges soon.

Educational institutions were closed across the country on March 17 last year to curb the spread of Covid-19. The closure led to cancellation of classes and examinations, throwing the academic life of more than four crore students of around 1.5 lakh educational institutions in disarray.

To recoup the academic loss, the government launched TV educational programmes on the state-run Sangsad channel for secondary and primary students.

Later, it asked all schools, colleges, and universities to introduce online classes. Assignments were also handed to secondary-level students.

While many schools in cities and urban areas quickly adapted to online education, doing so was not an easy option for students in rural and other areas dominated by low-income groups as they lacked the necessary devices.

As life has been gradually returning to normalcy following a Covid-19 surge earlier this year, calls from many quarters, including guardians and educationists, for reopening the educational institutions got louder.

The UN Children's Fund also called on the government to end the Covid-19 school closures and resume in-person learning as soon as possible for children's well-being and future prospects. In the face of mounting pressure, the government made several attempts to reopen schools, but those were thwarted due to fresh waves of infections.

The ministry high-ups even said they were waiting for teachers and students to get vaccinated and for the pandemic to reach a "tolerable level". Now almost all teachers and staffers of schools have taken Covid-19 vaccines, Dipu Moni said. Students aged 18 years and above are also getting vaccines.

The prime minister directed authorities to arrange vaccines for students aged 12 and above, and the government is taking necessary measures in this regard, the education minister said.

Education ministry officials said after reopening, students of classes 3 and 4 might get to go to school twice a week while students of classes 1 and 2 once a week. Students of classes 6 to 9 will also go to school once a week.

Several officials from both education ministries said they would be able to prepare a final guideline on reopening schools and other issues by this week.

Noted educationist Prof Siddiqur Rahman said teachers would now have to give more time to students to make up for the academic losses.

He proposed that students are taught lessons that they missed during the closure. "We can also increase the duration of classes," he told The Daily Star.

"Teachers will need to work more for the interest of the nation. The government, on the other hand, can arrange special incentives for them," said Prof Siddiqur, also a former director of the Institute of Education and Research at Dhaka University.

During a meeting on Thursday night, the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 recommended reopening of schools in phases as Covid-19 infection rates have gone down significantly.

Prof Mohammad Shahidullah, president of the committee, told this newspaper yesterday that they made the recommendation as the positivity rate came down to 10-11 percent in the beginning of this month.

"Vaccination is taking place and it would be expedited," he said.

He said they gave some conditions to the government for reopening. One of the conditions was that public examination examinees are brought to the classroom first and then students of other classes.

Another was that schools will ensure that everybody wears masks, there is arrangement for washing hands with soap and washrooms are cleaned properly, he said. Besides, seating arrangements should be made in a way that physical distancing is maintained.

Contacted, Belal Hossain, director of Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), said students' body temperature would be screened before allowing them to enter classrooms. Other rules will also be followed.

[Our Chandpur Correspondent contributed to the report.]