The closure of Bangladesh’s educational institutions that started in March last year in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak is the longest in the world. The prolonged closure throughout the pandemic has affected over four crore students from the pre-primary to the higher education level, says a database of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The UNESCO database also reveals that Bangladesh is followed by Venezuela, Honduras, Panama and Mexico. The long closure mostly affected the school children from pre-primary, primary, lower and upper secondary levels. Schools in Bangladesh have remained closed since March 18 last year, which means 76 weeks till August 31 this year. However, as per UNESCO, the country has witnessed 61 weeks of full school closure. The UN body evaluates the number of weeks to represent the total amount of time lost by students during the pandemic, taking 9-11 month as a school year depending on the country.. The longer children stay out of school, there is the greater risk of violence, child labour and child marriage. Besides, there are less likely chances of children returning to schools.
As per the latest decision by the government, primary, secondary and higher secondary educational institutions in the country are expected to reopen on September 12 nationwide. It is crucial that we must prioritise a safe reopening of schools and invest in remediation of learning losses for those most affected. But first, we must make sure that all teachers get fully vaccinated. Then students’ will have to be inoculated according to their levels of seniority. All these should have been done before the schools reopen. But the government ceased administering the first dose of AstraZeneca and Moderna doses as supplies depleted. Administering of AstraZeneca doses has resumed lately after a long gap as stock has been replenished by 30 lakh jabs sent by Japan under the Covax facility. The 15 lakh people, who were deprived of the second dose after a halt in supply by Serum Institute of India, are being administered the jab from the Japanese stock. Bangladesh has so far received 38.9 million vaccine doses from different sources and administered 27.2 million shots in the past eight months, covering only 7.0 per cent of the target.
It is high time to restart in-person learning of children in schools as the prolonged closure has already seriously affected them. But before that, the government must listen to experts and educationists and take all precautions to ensure their safety against possible infections.
