Staff Reporter :
The government is going to extend the closure of all educational institutions in the country in a bid to curb further spread of Covid-19. The decision in this regard is to be taken today.
“We are extending the closure of all educational institutions, but we will take the decision about fixing the dates tomorrow,” Akram-Al-Hossain, secretary to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, told the media on Sunday.
The secretary said that he had a discussion with top officials of the Ministry of Education regarding the matter and both the ministries will extend the closure till same date.Two high officials at the education ministry and primary and mass education ministry also said that they are likely to extend the closure of schools and colleges till June 30.
All educational institutions have remained closed since March 17. The closure had been extended till June 15 previously to prevent further spread of coronavirus.
On April 27, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said all educational institutions may stay closed until September if the situation caused by the coronavirus outbreak does not improve.
Educational activities of about four crore students are being hampered due to coronavirus crisis. Holding of HSC examinations has been deferred for an indefinite period. First-term exams of primary schools and half yearly exams of secondary schools have also been deferred for the crisis.
The government started TV education through Sangsad TV for secondary students on March 29, for primary students on April 7, and for technical and madrassa students on April 19, so that students can make up for some of the losses due to closure of the educational institutions.
Many guardians said it was only partially fulfilling the objective, as about a half of the country’s people-many of them underprivileged-do not have access to TV sets.
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey-2019 of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics showed that 50 percent households of the country do not have television sets.
