Education Minister Dipu Moni hopes to reopen schools in February

“The education ministry will decide on the matter after holding a meeting with the national technical advisory committee on COVID-19 tonight,” she said during a visit to Chandpur on Wednesday.

The ministry will hold a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the matter afterwards.

“We hope to reopen schools very soon. No specific date has been fixed yet but we hope to resume classes this month,” the education minister said, urging authorities to operate educational institutions in compliance with health rules amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Dipu Moni was in Chandpur to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected union council chairmen at the district council’s office.

After more than a year and a half of closure amid the coronavirus pandemic, Bangladesh reopened schools in September 2021.

Later, universities gradually returned to in-person classes as well.

But with the onset of the highly-infectious omicron strain of the coronavirus, cases began trending up since the start of 2022.

In light of the soaring caseload, the government closed educational institutions on Jan 21.

At the time, the education minister said the decision was prompted by an increase in coronavirus infections among children.

Initially, the plan was to keep schools closed until Feb 6, but as the situation had not improved by then, the curbs on in-person learning and public gatherings were extended to Feb 21.