An inter-ministerial meeting will be held on Sunday to take a decision on reopening educational institutions.

“ The ministry will hold a meeting to come to a decision,” MA Khair, public relations officer of the Education Ministry, told UNB.

Earlier, on Aug 26, the government extended the closure of secondary and higher secondary-level educational institutions until September 11.

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.

On Friday, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moin said primary, secondary and higher secondary educational institutions in the country will reopen on September 12.

“The decision was taken in a joint meeting of the Education Ministry, Ministry of Primary and Mass education and the National Technical Advisory Committee held on Thursday night,” she said at a function in Chandpur sadar upazila.

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“Hopefully, we’ll be able to reopen all the schools, colleges, including madrasas, on September 12 as per the decision,” Dipu Moni said.

Regarding the opening of universities, the minister said the decision is still pending as the Vice Chancellors of public universities want to see all the students are vaccinated-- at least the first dose of Covid-19 vaccines.

“We’ll hold another meeting with them. If they want, they can reopen with other educational institutions or fix another date following the decision of the syndicate committees of their universities,” said Dipu Moni.

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Even after reopening, she said, the educational institutions will have to send mandatory regular reports on abiding by health guidelines and Covid-19 situation.