All the students, aged 12 or above, will be vaccinated with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by January 31 so that they can attend schools and colleges, said Education Minister Dipu Moni on Monday, report agencies.
The minister disclosed this while speaking at a press briefing at the secretariat on Monday.
Dipu Moni said 4,819,554 students have been vaccinated against Covid-19 so far. "Those who have not been vaccinated yet will join classes online after January 12 and they'll be allowed to attend classes after receiving vaccine," she said.
"As we've planned, we hope it'll be possible to complete the vaccination of students in 397 upazilas by January 15, in three upazilas by January 17, in 56 upazilas by January 20, in 15 upazilas by January 22, in 35 upazilas by January 25 and 11 upazilas by January 31."
She added: "In other words, by January 31, we'll be able to vaccinate 7,554,606 students with the first dose at least."
The education minister also said no registration is required for students to get vaccinated. Students can get vaccinated after showing their identity cards of schools and colleges. A and O Level students as well as SSC, and HSC examinees will be able to get vaccinated, showing their admit cards.
Among 11,623,322 students aged 12-18, 4.4 million have received the first dose while 419,554 the second dose.
About the possible closure of educational institutions amid the Covid surge, Dipu Moni said, "Educational institutions won't be closed now as we'll strengthen monitoring there to enforce health protocols."
In-person classes in educational institutions will continue on a limited scale. "We'll monitor the situation for a week and then we'll sit in a meeting with the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19."
Those who are unable to attend school can make up their classwork through online classes or other alternate means, she added.
The minister said the education ministry will decide on this year's Secondary School Certificate (SSC), Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and their equivalent exams after reviewing the COVID-19 situation.
"It's quite natural that the exams will not be held in time as students couldn't attend classes much due to the pandemic," Dipu Moni said.
"Though the number of infections has risen, the situation is still largely the same as when we reopened schools, colleges and other educational institutions last year,"
The minister said various issues were reviewed at the meeting with NTAC on Sunday.
She said the trend of Omicron is that everyone will get infected. Even students can get infected at home. "So, we'll keep students safe as long as they're there in the educational institutions."
"Besides, we'll have to recover the learning losses caused by the long closure of educational institutions."
The minister said, "The situation was that no student had been vaccinated when we reopened educational institutions with a daily positivity rate at 7 per cent. But now, a large portion of our students have been vaccinated. So, we all need to do is to follow hygiene protocols properly rather than closing educational institutions."
The classes at primary level will continue, said Dipu Moni.
She said the World Health Organisation has not yet approved vaccines for those below 12 years. "We'll wait for their decision."
The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education is closely monitoring the situation and has not received information of any infection so far, she added.
The minister said the students who have other illnesses like cancer, complications such as breathing difficulties, or are at particular risk from Covid-19 are encouraged to stay at home and do online classes, Dipu Moni said.
Nearly 2,328,468 university students received the first dose while 1,713,451 received the second dose, she said, adding that over 2.6 million university students have got registered for taking vaccine.
The universities will also be monitored strictly this time whether they are ensuring hygiene rules, said the minister.
However, hygiene rules are not properly maintained in Qawmi Madrasas as there is no monitoring. "Since the Qawmi Madrasas are not under our control, we'll take action through local administrations," she added.
On January 6, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said the students, aged above 12 or above, must receive at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine to attend schools and colleges.
After a long closure due to the pandemic, the students of schools and colleges in Bangladesh returned to their classrooms on September 12 last year.
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