The Dhaka University authorities have backtracked from the decision to reopen student dormitories on May 17 and are now planning to keep the facilities closed until the residential students take Covid-19 vaccines and rest for four weeks.
The decision came at a meeting of the university’s provost standing committee on Thursday, according to media reports.
ASM Maksud Kamal, pro-VC of the university, confirming the development said that the halls would not be reopened on May 17 as announced earlier.
“More than 30,000 students have registered with us for the vaccine, which could not be confirmed thus far,” he said.
The standing committee, he said, took the decision to delay the resumption of halls considering the upward trend of daily Covid-19 caseloads and fatalities.
The university authorities vacated the halls on Match 20 last year, two days after the suspension of in-person academic activities. However, online classes are being held while some mid-term level exams were also conducted. But no final exams were held as yet.
The government on February 22 announced that the in-person classes would resume at all public and private universities on May 24 and the dormitories would reopen a week earlier, on May 17.
On February 23, DU VC Professor Md Akhtaruzzaman said that the precondition for students to stay at the university halls was to get vaccinated. “However, if someone has a physical condition that interferes with the vaccine, they may be excused based on a doctor's prescription.”
Afterwards, the university authorities instructed the students to register online for the vaccine at a designated weblink. In a week starting from March 24, more than 30,000 students applied for the inoculation.
But the authorities could not confirm vaccination for the students even at the end of April, with no updated information provided as yet.
The DU academic council earlier set March 13 for reopening the residential halls.
