Number of classes in schools, colleges to be raised: Dipu Moni

Education Minister Dipu Moni on Saturday said the government is planning to increase the number of classes in schools and colleges from January next.

The minister said this while talking to local journalists after inaugurating a new complex of Palli Bidyut Samiti-2 at Raldia village in Chandpur.

She said it is not possible to take any immediate decision on increasing classes as some countries are seeing the third wave of Covid-19 infections.

“Classes have to be taken following health guidelines and maintaining social distance for now,” said Dipu Moni.

“We don’t even have enough space in classrooms to properly maintain the health guidelines. So, we’ll think about increasing the number of classes from January if the Covid-19 situation remains under control,” she added.

School and college students in Bangladesh returned to their classrooms on September 11 after a prolonged closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The government had 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. The pandemic-related school closures in the country affected about 38 million students though the government introduced TV-based learning programmes for them.