MANY government and non-government schools are unable to maintain all the guidelines set by the government after the mid-February reopening of educational institutions. Many government primary schools do not have any wash blocks or facilities for washing hands while most government secondary schools, non-government schools and kindergartens are running with a very limited number of washrooms as well as classrooms. Head teachers of several non-government schools and kindergartens said they would instruct parents to provide hand sanitisers and masks to ensure safety amid the Covid-19 outbreak, while parents feel the extra financial burden.
The government plans to reopen educational institutions in the second week of February on a limited scale if the Covid-19 situation did not further deteriorate. The plan says 10th and 12th graders would attend physical classes regularly and the other grade students attend classes by rotation. Syllabuses of the SSC and HSC would be further streamlined so that the secondary students could complete the syllabuses in 60 days while the higher secondary students could finish it in 84 days.
Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education and Directorate of Primary Education last week separately passed instructions for the educational institutions for cleaning all the institutions that remained closed from March 17, 2020, and develop facilities maintaining guidelines given by the agencies by February 4 for the reopening of institutions on short notice. The DPE asked the 65,625 government primary schools across the country to develop facilities from the School Level Improvement Project fund. The DSHE did not mention the source of funds for developing facilities for maintaining health guidelines for the pupils, teachers and staffers. A school gets between Tk 15,000 and Tk 40,000, depending on the number of students under Improvement Project Fund. With this money, it will not be possible to develop health safety facilities when 30 per cent of the government primary schools do not have wash blocks.
The cost of remaining classroom close is high in terms of monitory and non-monitory, but the opening classroom is also unbearable for almost all institutions with some exceptions until the pandemic situation improved and vaccination got success. While business suffers most, complying the health safety guidelines are really challenging for all. However, suspending less important projects and wiping out corruption can buttress compliance the health safety if the budgetary supports channelled.
