Finally, after 544 days, educational institutions from first class to higher secondary level are opening today, Sunday. Many parents are worried about hygiene and infection as there is excitement among teachers and students. Though instructions have been given by the government to reopen in phases, however not all educational institutions in the country can come under it. More than 700 educational institutions in 10 districts have been submerged due to the ongoing flood situation in the north and central parts of the country. Though many of these institutions have run out of water, they are not yet suitable for teaching.
Recently, Health Minister Zahid Malek Swapan said that there could be a risk of infection after the opening of educational institutions. The same fear has been expressed by some public health experts and parents. However, they want the stagnant education system to return to its previous state.
On Saturday, Education Minister Dipu Moni said that if the infection increased, the educational institutions would be closed again. Syed Golam Farooq, Director General of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) said students would not be able to sit at school and eat tiffin after the school opened.
On March 8 last year, the first corona patient was identified in the country. Due to the corona situation, all educational institutions in the country were declared closed from March 17 last year. After that the closure was extended in phases. In the first phase, an initiative was taken to open an educational institution on March 31 this year and later on May 23 in the second phase. However, it was not possible due to the second wave of corona. The closure was extended till September 11.
However, after the onset of the corona outbreak, primary and secondary classes have been televised since April last year. Then the big schools and colleges and later other educational institutions also started online classes. But not all the students could join the online class due to lack of mobile devices and capacity of poor family and internet facilities.
State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hossain told the media that skills and career-oriented education would be introduced soon considering the dropout rate. Teachers, students and parents hope that the stress on education in corona will be overcome soon after the opening of the school-college.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education have given multiple instructions to open schools and colleges. These include hygiene, monitoring of body temperature of teachers, staff, students and parents at the entrance of educational institutions and ensuring proper hygiene; Maintaining physical distance of students in the classroom; On the first day, educational and motivational briefings will be given on how the students will stay in the institution following the rules of hygiene and how to come and go from home; Ensuring that teachers, staff, students and parents wear masks (cloth masks if possible) properly; To keep all the washrooms of the educational institution clean regularly and to provide adequate safe water; One of them is to form a monitoring and verification committee consisting of teachers to ensure hygiene.