These two students of Rampura Ekramunessa Girls High School in Dhaka city hug each other out of jubilation while others are waiting for their turn to join the celebration on the school campus on Tuesday, as the government allowed resumption of in-person classes of secondary schools, colleges, and universities from the day — FE photo After a month-long coronavirus-induced closure, all secondary and higher secondary schools and university-level institutions in Bangladesh reopened on Tuesday for in-person classes with strict health protocols in place, reports UNB.
The authorities took the decision to reopen the institutions in view of the visible declining trend in the Covid situation across the country.
The primary schools in Bangladesh, however, will reopen for in-person classes on March 1, according to the Ministry of Education.
Students aged 12 and above who have been vaccinated with the second dose of a Covid vaccine will be able to physically attend the classes while those who have got the first dose will attend online classes, Education Minister Dipu Moni had earlier said.
"The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has already prepared a list of students eligible for Covid jabs at all primary schools," she had said.
So far, 14,874,591 students have received the first Covid vaccine shot and 9,858,849 the second shot.
On January 21, the government announced that all schools and colleges in Bangladesh would remain closed from January 21 to February 6 amid a renewed surge in Covid-19 cases largely due to the new Omicron variant.
The shutdown was extended until February 20 for the safety of the students as the virus continued to spread.
The following day, the Education Ministry issued an 11-point directive, including the resumption of online classes for schools and colleges.
Besides, the vaccination of students aged between 12 and 17 years against Covid-19 was directed to be continued following the health guidelines in coordination with the zonal offices of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, district education offices, upazila secondary education offices, local administrations and civil surgeons.
After a 17-month Covid-induced shutdown, students in Bangladesh returned to their classrooms on September 12 last year.
The government shut the educational institutions on March 17, 2020, after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases on March 8 and later the closure was extended several times.
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