The government has decided in principle to reopen the primary, secondary, higher secondary educational institutions, along with madrasahs, from September 12 across Bangladesh.
The move –- putting an end to a nearly 18-month-long closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic -– comes in line with the recent drop in numbers of cases and deaths across the country.
Authorities have proposed some health safety protocols to bring the students back to the classrooms in phases.
The final plan however will be finalized at an inter-ministerial meeting on Sunday afternoon.
For everyone involved in resuming in-person classes, these are the guidelines so far they will have to follow:
>> One in-person class every week for students, except SSC and HSC candidates
>> Use of infrared thermometers, face masks or face shields, and hand sanitizers mandatory at the educational institutions
>> Only two students will share a single bench on which more used to sit
>> Everyone will maintain social distancing – minimum of three feet distance from each other – and all the Covid-19 hygiene rules at all times
>> Students will be brought to their institutions following a rotation system during public exams
>> Girls toilets at the educational institutions will ensure menstrual hygiene facilities
>> Classrooms, office rooms, garbage containers and toilets will have to be cleaned regularly with disinfectants more thoroughly
>> Students, institution staffers and teachers, who are ill, will not be required to come to work
>> Pregnant teachers will not have to join their workplaces after the reopening
The educational institutions around the country have been closed since March last year -- when the authorities detected the first Covid-19 cases and recorded the first death.
Since then, the closure was extended multiple times in order to curb the spread of the deadly disease, which has killed nearly 26,500 people of the country so far.
