‘It is a much anticipated day for all the students’

Schools and colleges across the country finally reopened this morning after nearly 18 months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Students of different schools and colleges were seen going to their respective institutions from the beginning of the day.

Following the announcement of the Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni to reopen educational institutions on September 12, all primary, secondary and higher secondary schools across the country are set to reopen gradually from Sunday morning.

Complying with all the health directives, students and teachers meet in the classroom by wearing masks. Besides, they were also seen to use hand sanitizer and maintaining all the safety rules at their institutions.

Many educational institutions prepared themselves for the last one week to welcome the students at their beloved campus after a long break of one and half years.

Authorities of many institutions were seen to check each student’s temperature before entering the classroom.

While talking to Dhaka Post, Tasmiah Binte Ahasan, an HSC candidate of Dhaka City College, said, “I can’t explain the happiness of returning to the classroom again. It is a much anticipated day for all of the students across the country. We were bored at our residence without in-person classes as online classes won’t be an alternative to in-person classes. We are hopeful to continue our in-person classes until our examination started.”

Replying to a question about the health safety protocols, she said that we are aware of it. All of my classmates and teachers wear masks and we are maintaining distance both on and off the classroom.

Like Tasmiah, Shadhin Ahmed, a class 10 student, said, “As per the instructions, I’m following health guidelines like wearing mask and washing hands in regular intervals.”

The concerned authorities asked the teachers across the country to ensure that students wear masks and follow health guidelines strictly.

In addition, the students will not be allowed to take tiffin or any food on their school premises.

However, the teachers were asked to ease uniform rules for the students as most of the students will not be able to manage proper uniforms after the sudden announcement by the government.

Akhtaruzzaman, an Assistant Head Teacher of a school, said, “We are delighted to see our students in the classroom again. It’s like a festival for me as everyone returned to school after a long break.”

According to the government instructions, we are strictly following the health guidelines, including ensure wearing masks, social distancing in the school premises, he added.

Besides, we are trying to cheer up the students so that they are not afraid of the COVID-19 pandemic, he concluded.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni on September 11 warned that the educational institutions may be shut again if the coronavirus infections rise again.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque also said that the fate of the in-person classes will be dependent on the transmission of the virus. If the situation deteriorated again, the schools might be closed again.

Earlier on September 5, an inter-ministerial meeting at the Education Ministry finalized the decision to reopen all primary, secondary and higher secondary educational institutions except universities across the country to reopen from September 12.

As per the decision, examinees of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC), Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Primary School Certificate (PSC) will have to attend classes daily while the rest will attend classes once a week.

However, the local administration will be able to shut any educational institution if infections rise.

All the educational institutions across the country remain shut from March 17 last year to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.

Later the closure of educational institutions was extended by the ministry several times.

According to UNICEF, Bangladesh marked the world’s second-longest educational institutions closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

ARR