The government is formulating a policy to enable students to continue their education both online and in-person or “Blended Education”, even in times of crisis, such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Education Minister Dipu Moni has said.
Her remarks came on Friday while speaking to the media at Chandpur after inaugurating an Intensive Care Unit at Chandpur General Hospital.
“We introduced online classes when educational institutions were shut down due to the rapid spread of coronavirus. However, due to the uncalled for nature of this situation, the students were not able to benefit from the learning process,” she said.
Although schools have reopened, blended education will help the students to adapt to both offline and online methods going forward, so they do not face any other obstacles in the future, according to the minister.
The finalized policy would be presented to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on March 26.
It was pointed out by the minister that adequate infrastructure would have to be prepared and teachers would have to be trained to implement a blended education policy in Bangladesh.
The government had closed educational institutions on March 17, 2020, after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases.
The closure was extended several times before opening for in-person classes on a limited scale in September 2021.
However, amid a surge of coronavirus cases due to the omicron variant, schools were closed again in January this year and reopened on February 22 allowing fully vaccinated students for in-person classes.