File photo of students in a class room Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

Ongoing closure to continue till February 28

An inter-ministerial meeting will be held on Saturday to ponder ways for a reopening of schools and colleges, Education Minister Dipu Moni has said.

“The meeting with all stakeholders is aimed at reviewing the situation in line with the prime minister’s instructions”, she told the media in Dhaka on Thursday.

After the weekly cabinet meeting on Monday, the cabinet secretary said that the education ministry had been asked to lead discussions with all stakeholders before making the final decision on a reopening of schools.

“As you know, we’ve already revised the syllabuses for the SSC and HSC exams,” the education minister added. 

To finish the syllabuses on time, all-out preparations had been taken to ensure safety protocols at educational institutions so that they could be reopened as soon as possible, Dipu Moni said. 

The national advisory committee on Covid-19 had given its recommendations to make it happen, she said, adding that a decision would be taken at the inter-ministerial meeting, considering the overall Covid-19 situation.

“We’ll decide whether to reopen the educational institutions on March 1. On the other hand, a further delay in reopening them can be decided on at the meeting,” she added.

Claiming that Bangladesh’s Covid-19 situation was better than that in many other countries, the education minister said: “We hope our decision, based on the situation, does not turn worse.” 

The government on February 14 last extended the closure of all educational institutions in the country, except Qawmi madrasas, till February 28 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On March 16 last year, the government ordered all educational institutions closed to contain the virus.

Later, the closure was extended in several phases.