The government will decide whether to fully resume in-person classes after observing the Covid-19 pandemic situation until March next year, Education Minister Dipu Moni has said.
“Educational institutes will resume normal activities if the pandemic situation does not worsen in March 2022,” the minister told reporters in Dhaka on Thursday.
It is not yet time to discuss what kind of impact the Omicron coronavirus variant may have on the education system, she added.
There will be no textbook festivals in schools on the first day of the new year due to health risks posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, said Dipu Moni.
The annual event, marking the distribution of free textbooks among school and madrasah students, was not held this year either amid the pandemic.
“Nonetheless, 95% of the books will reach the schools on time and most students will receive them on the first day of the new year as usual,” she said before adding that the remaining books will be delivered within the first week of January.
The government is printing around 350 million textbooks for free distribution among some 40 million students for the 2022 academic year, according to the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB).
Of them, around 70 million books for the secondary level have yet to be printed.
Bangladesh has continued to set an example in the world through the distribution of free textbooks among large numbers of students on the first day of January.
The annual event began in 2009/10 when the government decided to tackle a growing textbook crisis in the country’s schools and colleges.
