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

“We might receive opinion from the National Technical Advisory Committee over the matter tomorrow (Thursday) and on Sunday and then 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.

Read: Covid positivity rate shrinks to 10%, cases and deaths continue declining

Preparations for reopening

On Aug 24, State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hossain said schools, which remained closed since March last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be reopened after receiving directives from the highest level of the government.

“We can’t reopen the schools suddenly. We have taken all-out preparations, and if the Prime Minister orders us today we’re ready to reopen the schools tomorrow,” he told reporters.

Zakir said experts favour reopening schools as the students are out of classes for the past one and half years.

Besides, the education authorities on the same day issued some guidelines as part of preparations to reopen the educational institutions.

The teachers of primary schools have been instructed to return to their workplaces from Tuesday.

The Primary Education Directorate asked the upazila/thana education officers to inspect the schools in their jurisdiction within a week.

Besides, it has given instructions to keep the institutions neat and clean to prevent dengue.

Read: Decision on vaccinating school students soon: DGHS DG

The primary school authorities were instructed to prepare their wash blocks accordingly.

The Directorate of Secondary & Higher Education (DSHE) also asked the regional directors to make necessary preparations to reopen the schools and colleges.

According to sources at the  Education Ministry, most teachers and staffers of the educational institutions have been vaccinated.

Sources at the University Grants Commission claimed that around 80 % students of Dhaka University got their Covid jabs.

However, schools will reopen only after the covid positivity rate comes below 5 %, said a source at the education ministry.