A total of 82,383 students have got scholarships across the country in the Primary Scholarship Examination held in 2022. State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hossain announced the results on Tuesday. Among the students, 33,000 got scholarships under talent pool while 49,383 under general grade. Talent pool scholarships recipients will get Tk 300 per month while recipients under general grade will get Tk 225. Also Read: Primary scholarship results Tuesday Recipients of both grades will get Tk 225 for buying books. The result aspirants will be able to see the results on the websites-www.dpe.gov.bd and www.mopme.gov.bd. Apart from this, the results will be available at the offices of divisional deputy director, district primary education officer and upazila or thana education officer.          

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has resumed the online transfer system of the assistant teachers of the government primary schools after closure for long days. State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Md Zakir Hossain resumed the online transfer system at an event at his ministry on Wednesday. Primary and Mass Education Ministry Senior secretary Aminul Islam Khan and Directorate General of Primary Education Mohibur Rahman, among others, spoke. On the first day, online transfers were made at 18 primary schools in Kaliakair of Gazipur on pilot basis.  The transfer system will be completed through software developed by the ministry.   The online transfer system was introduced to make the transfer of primary school teachers easy and hassle-free. However, the implementation of the programme  was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On June 30 this year, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque inaugurated the pilot programme of the system in Gazipur. Teachers who have applied till July 15, 2022 will be included under the pilot programme. After completion of the pilot programme, online transfer of primary teachers will be started across the country. Read also: Primary teacher recruitment: 40, 862 qualified for viva-voce in first phase exam

As physical classes resumed for primary school students after yet another Covid-induced closure, students were excited to return to campus on Wednesday. All primary-level educational institutions reopened on Tuesday after over a month of closure due to a renewed surge in Covid-19 cases largely due to the Omicron strain. School staff, particularly teachers, made an extra effort to give the children a warm welcome, also ensuring adherence to all Covid-safety protocols. Read: SSC exams likely from June 19, HSC from Aug 22 In view of the declining Covid cases across Bangladesh, the government on February 18 announced the resumption of in-person classes at primary schools from March 1. In-person classes at all secondary, higher secondary and university-level educational institutions resumed on February 22. On January 21, the government announced the closure of all schools and colleges in Bangladesh from January 21 to February 6 amid the fresh surge in Covid-19 cases. The shutdown was extended till 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. Read: IU officials continue work abstention 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 an initial 17-month Covid-induced closure, the students in Bangladesh returned to their classrooms on September 12 last year. The government initially 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.

Around 6 million primary and secondary students are at risk of learning loss due to the extended closure of the educational institutions in the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a study report revealed Monday. Since the closure of schools in March 2020, there have been severe disruptions in the education of children, especially those from low-income groups. The extended closure has led to far-reaching consequences including an increased risk of learning losses, dropouts, and psychological and economic costs, says the survey "Covid-19 Impact on Education Life of Children." Also read: Schools for over 168mn children globally shut for almost a full year: UNICEF Some 3.42 million are primary school students and 2.50 million secondary school students are now at risk of learning loss. Power and Participation Research Center (PPRC) and Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) jointly conducted the rapid telephonic survey between April 2020 and March 2021 to assess the impact of Covid-19 on poverty. It used samples from 6,099 households with around 4,940 consisting of school-going-age children. Between June 2020 and March 2021, the out-of-pocket expenditure for education increased 11 times. The crisis has increased the opportunity cost of investing in education. Some 8% of school-going boys and 3% of school-going girls are in some form of income-earning activity. Read No assignments for secondary school students Without targeted remedial measures, the situation will lead to reduced learning capacity or risk of dropouts in future, says the study. The survey also revealed that only around 10% of students had access to or used distance learning opportunities to compensate for school closure; public TV classes were viewed by only around 2%. Some 51% in primary and 61% secondary students went to coaching or private tuition. However, it was lower in urban compared to rural primarily due to higher costs. Read UN alarm at education crisis: 258 million kids not in school Even in pre-pandemic times, a greater proportion of secondary school-going-age children were out of school (21%) than primary (14%). More children were out of school in urban slums than rural areas at both primary and secondary levels. "A significant portion of school-going children are at risk of learning loss. So, school reopening must be coupled with a set of remedial measures to cover the learning loss and help children to cope up," said BIGD Executive Director Dr Imran Matin. PPRC Chair Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman focused on three main consequences of school closures – learning loss, education cost burdens, and multidimensional social alienation. Also read: 60.5 percent people in favour of reopening schools: Survey He said outside class hours, additional programmes are required as a learning loss recovery strategy to mitigate the loss as part of a post-Covid human capital agenda. "Otherwise, a large part of our population will not only be far removed from education but also become deskilled," he added. Dr Zillur recommended that existing primary and secondary stipend programmes be used to redress the out-of-pocket education cost burdens. "Using the established database, the government can quickly provide a cash boost by allocating Tk2,960 crore in the 2021-22 budget," he said. Read 86,452 primary students get stipend, allowance through Nagad in phase 1