The government has again extended the closure of secondary and higher secondary-level educational institutions until August 31 due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country. The decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers and staffers in consultation with the National Advisory Committee on Covid-19, said an official release signed by MA Khair, public relations officer of the Education Ministry on Thursday. Earlier, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said the government had decided to reopen educational institutions, particularly the primary, secondary and higher secondary ones, in Bangladesh on June 13 if the Covid-19 situation does not deteriorate. Later, the government announced the extension of closure of schools and colleges till July 31, and the Education Ministry issued a notice in this regard. The government shut educational institutions on March 17 last year after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases on March 8. Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh lowers vaccination age to 25 The closure was extended several times after that. On February 22, the education minister announced that university classes would resume on May 24. Residential halls were also scheduled to be reopened on May 17. But that did not happen due to the worsening pandemic. Covid situation in Bangladesh As the Delta variant of Covid-19 engulfed the country, Bangladesh recorded 239 more deaths caused by the virus in 24 hours till Thursday morning. Besides, 15,271 new people came out Covid positive during the period after the test of 52,282 samples, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The fresh cases took the country’s Covid death tally to 20,255 today while the caseload to 1,226,253. Read: Covid in Bangladesh: Daily toll remains above 200; 15,271 more infected The country has been seeing nearly 200 deaths a day for the past two weeks, shattering the records of daily cases and deaths almost every other day. Meanwhile, the daily test-positivity rate declined slightly to 29.21% from Wednesday's 30.12% while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate. However, the case fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.65 % during the period, said the DGHS.

The government has again extended the closure of secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions until May 29 due to the recent spike in Covid-19 infections. The decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers and staffers after consultation with the National Advisory Committee on Covid-19, said an official release signed by M A Khair, public relations officer of the Education Ministry. During the closure online classes will continue, it said. Earlier, the government decided to reopen schools and colleges on May 23 and the Education Ministry issued a notice in this regard. Also read: Covid-19: Ongoing lockdown to be extended until May 23 The government shut educational institutions on March 17 last year after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases on March 8. The closure was extended several times, most recently until May 23 this year. On February 22 the education minister announced that university classes would resume on May 24. Residential halls were scheduled to be reopened on May 17. Also read: Schools, colleges to reopen on May 23 Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh Covid-19 claimed 22 more lives in Bangladesh in the past 24 hours until Saturday morning which is the lowest daily deaths in nearly two months. The country saw 26 Covid deaths on Friday and 31 on Thursday. With the latest deaths logged today, the official Covid-related death count in the country reached 12,124. However, the mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.55%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Also read: Covid-19: 22 more lives lost, lowest daily deaths in 7 weeks The country witnessed a sharp drop in the number of new cases as the tests have declined dramatically. Only 261 infections were logged in the last 24 hours after examining 3,758 samples during the period. The number of daily cases has been decreasing since the beginning of May, falling below 2,000.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday provided Tk 74.81 crore for 1,67,225 non-MPO teachers and employees of the country as they have been passing days in miseries to the pandemic that led to the closure of educational institutions for a long time. According to a media release issued by the PMO Press Wing, there are 105,785 teachers and employees in general education while the number is 61,440 in madrasah and  Ebtadayee Madrasah and vocational education. Sheikh Hasina provided Tk 46.63 crore in favour of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Division while Tk 28.18 crore in favour of Vocational and Madrasah Education Division. Also read: PM provides Tk 122 cr assistance for mosques The release said that each teacher will get Tk 5,000 while the employees will get Tk 2,500 each. On May 2, the Prime Minister provided cash support of Tk 2,500 to each 36.5 lakh low-income families engaged in different occupations so that they can survive in this tough time. Each family directly received Tk 2,500 through G2P (Government-to-Person) as the cash will be sent through mobile financial services (MFS) – Nagad, bKash, Rocket and SureCash. Also read: PM provides financial assistance to 6,959 Qawmi madrasas More than Tk 1,500 crore has already been allocated to ease the sufferings of the marginalised people during the second wave of coronavirus. Soon after the second wave of coronavirus came in sight, the Prime Minister instantly directed the authorities concerned to start the activities of humanitarian assistance. Since the Covid-19 lockdown was enforced from April 14 last, marginalised people like temporary workless people, destitute, day-labourers, rickshaw- and van-pullers, transport workers, the third gender and beggars in urban and rural areas. Also read: PM provides financial assistance to 8 organisations As per the PM’s directive, the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry instantly sent Tk 590 crore to the field-level administration to provide support to the needy people and the disbursement of the money continues. Besides, the Prime Minister allocated Tk 10.5 crore against deputy commissioners from her relief and welfare fund to provide emergency assistance to the poor and destitute. The Prime Minister has also provided Tk 10 crore to the Journalist Welfare Trust as assistance for the journalists who are facing hardship due to the fallout of the pandemic.

The government has decided to reopen schools and colleges on May 23 due to the recent spike in Coronavirus infections in the country. The Education Ministry issued a notice in this regard on Thursday. The decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers and staffers and during the closure online classes will continue, the notice said. Classes in all primary, secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions were scheduled to resume on March 30. Also read: Schools, colleges likely to remain closed until Eid: Dipu Earlier in the morning Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said the schools and colleges are likely to remain shut until Eid-ul-Fitr vacation if the recent spike in Coronavirus infections continues. “The closure of primary, secondary and higher secondary level institutions is likely to be extended until Eid-ul-Fitr like the universities if the coronavirus cases continue to rise. A decision in this regard will be taken later after a meeting with National Technical Advisory Committee formed to fight COVID-19,” she said.  The government shut educational institutions on March 17 last year after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases on March 8. The closure was extended several times, most recently until late March this year. On February 22 the education minister announced that university classes would resume on May 24. Also read: Covid-19: Educational institutions reopening may be delayed Residential halls were scheduled to be reopened on May 17. Covid-19 claimed 35 more lives and infected 3,587 others in the past 24 hours till Thursday morning amid an alarming spike in cases over the past few weeks in Bangladesh. The coronavirus fatalities rose to 8,763 with the latest figure while the new cases pushed the total infections to 580,808, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records 3-month high 34 deaths; 3,587 fresh cases With the fresh 3,537 cases, Bangladesh has seen the worst daily increase for the second consecutive day since July 15, 2020. The free movement of people ignoring the health protocols is believed to be the reason behind the recent upsurge in cases. 

State Minister of Primary and Mass Education Md Zakir Hossain on Tuesday said educational institutions are likely to reopen any day in February after 11 months of closure forced by the coronavirus outbreak.

With a strict health guideline in place and vaccine at hand, the government will likely reopen the educational institutions soon, ending a months-long closure forced by the virus.

A writ was filed with the High Court (HC) on Thursday, seeking directives to reopen all the educational institutions across the country.

The government has again extended the closure of educational institutions until Jan 30 as the coronavirus situation shows no sign of improvement.

The government has extended the closure of schools and educational institutions to January 16, as it looks to allay fears of a potentially brutal 'second wave'  of infections exacerbated by the winter season.

The government has again extended the closure of educational institutions until November 14 to prevent the spread of coronavirus.