Bangladesh private universities to hold online classes during lockdown

The government is going to allow the private universities to carry out academic activities online as the lockdown over coronavirus outbreak drags on for weeks.

The University Grants Commission or UGC will issue guidelines ‘shortly’ for the online lessons, its Chairman Kazi Shahidullah told reporters on Thursday.

The decisions were taken in a meeting attended by Education Minister Dipu Moni and officials of the UGC, and public and private universities via a video link earlier in the day.

The government has so far approved 105 private universities, but some of them are not in operation.

As the coronavirus cases and deaths from the COVID-19 disease it causes have continued to surge, the lockdown has been extended to May 5.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has recently said that the closure of educational institutions, which started before the lockdown in March, should continue at least until September if the outbreak does not stop.

The UGC on Apr 6 asked the private universities to stop grading students through online exams or without semester final tests, evaluation and admission after some institutions initiated these steps.

After Thursday’s meeting, UGC Chairman Shahidullah told reporters that many emphasised online academic activities as the educational institutions are believed not to be opening anytime soon.

Another official who attended the meeting said the public universities were asked to take steps like cutting holidays and holding extra classes to make up for the losses and reduce session logjam.