UNCERTAINTY prevails over the Secondary School Certificate examinations and Higher Secondary Certificate examinations as the government had cancelled all examinations at educational institutions amid the Covid-19 outbreak early last month. As per the latest order, the institutions are to remain closed till December 19.
Students, parents and teachers of different schools and colleges are worried that the candidates of the upcoming SSC and HSC examinations were feeling demotivated regarding the public examinations, as per a local media report. Most students were not seriously attending the online classes that the schools and colleges were holding amid the closure of the institutions.
Normally students usually spend most of their time studying ahead of the SSC and HSC examinations usually held in February and April respectively. The Education Minister Dipu Moni in an online press briefing on Wednesday also failed to assure that things would revert back to normal soon. She said that both the upcoming SSC and HSC examinations would be deferred as the Ministry had undertaken a plan to hold face-to-face classes of the SSC and HSC candidates at least for three months. Holding admission tests following the conventional method, she said, would not be possible amid the Covid-19 outbreak when access to 100 per cent admission seekers would not be possible through online admission tests.
It’s not a good idea to open schools right now when the entire world is in the second wave of Covid-19 infections. Excepting for mostly Republican led areas like Texas and Florida — both of which are seeing an alarming rise in infections, most US states or major cities which have had plans to re-open schools are not now opening them. While it is true that the vast majority of students will probably not suffer as much due to Covid the same cant be said for their parents or other elderly family members with whom they are in close touch with.
This is especially true for Bangladesh where most of us still live in inter-generational family units — especially true in cities like Dhaka where living costs are exorbitant. So to protect their parents and grandparents children must also be protected from getting Covid. There is no other option but to wait for the vaccine to set things right.
Students, parents and teachers of different schools and colleges are worried that the candidates of the upcoming SSC and HSC examinations were feeling demotivated regarding the public examinations, as per a local media report. Most students were not seriously attending the online classes that the schools and colleges were holding amid the closure of the institutions.
Normally students usually spend most of their time studying ahead of the SSC and HSC examinations usually held in February and April respectively. The Education Minister Dipu Moni in an online press briefing on Wednesday also failed to assure that things would revert back to normal soon. She said that both the upcoming SSC and HSC examinations would be deferred as the Ministry had undertaken a plan to hold face-to-face classes of the SSC and HSC candidates at least for three months. Holding admission tests following the conventional method, she said, would not be possible amid the Covid-19 outbreak when access to 100 per cent admission seekers would not be possible through online admission tests.
It’s not a good idea to open schools right now when the entire world is in the second wave of Covid-19 infections. Excepting for mostly Republican led areas like Texas and Florida — both of which are seeing an alarming rise in infections, most US states or major cities which have had plans to re-open schools are not now opening them. While it is true that the vast majority of students will probably not suffer as much due to Covid the same cant be said for their parents or other elderly family members with whom they are in close touch with.
This is especially true for Bangladesh where most of us still live in inter-generational family units — especially true in cities like Dhaka where living costs are exorbitant. So to protect their parents and grandparents children must also be protected from getting Covid. There is no other option but to wait for the vaccine to set things right.
