The higher secondary and tertiary level students in Bangladesh are likely to face a severe session jam amid the intermittent closures of the educational institutions owing to different reasons this year.
The students from primary and secondary levels also fear potential learning losses in this situation.
Since the beginning of the year natural calamities of cold wave, heatwave and flood caused closures of educational institutions for several times.
Following the flood situation this monsoon, the authorities deferred the ongoing Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalent examinations at some places.聽
Lastly, the government closed all educational institutions for an indefinite period in the middle of the current month over the student protests demanding quota reform in government jobs.聽
The primary and mass education ministry, meanwhile on Wednesday, announced to resume academic activities in all the government primary schools except those in the city corporation areas on August 4 after nearly a half month closure due to the student protests.
Education minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury on Tuesday following a meeting at the secretariat said that they were waiting for the atmosphere to calm down after which educational institutions would be reopened in phases.
He also said that they were planning to reopen the educational institutions outside Dhaka from next week.
But as the academic calendar has gone haywire, the students in all levels are in the risk of session jams and learning losses.
Currently, the country has around four crore students from pre-primary to tertiary levels, as per the Bangladesh Education Statistics 2022.
Different reports show that between early 2020 and 2022 during the time of Covid pandemic, educational institutions were intermittently closed for over 19 months, causing the students to experience an enormous amount of learning losses.
Against this backdrop, the government in 2023 started implementing the new national curriculum.
But soon after the current academic year had begun, the ministries of education and primary and mass education on January 16 directed closure of schools in areas severely experiencing a cold wave.
Educational institutions across the country again suspended in-person classes in April 21鈥�27 amid a simmering heatwave.
But on April 29, the High Court ordered the closure of all primary and secondary level schools, colleges, and madrassahs across Bangladesh until May 2 due to the heatwave.
Duration of classes was also shortened during cold and heat waves.
In May again, educational institutions in some districts remained closed for few days where Cyclone Remal hit.
The public university teachers across the country had started an indefinite work abstention programme by boycotting classes and examinations since July 1, demanding the cancellation of the new universal pension scheme titled Prattay, terming it discriminatory.
At the same time, on July 1 the public university students started a protest demanding reform in the quota system in government jobs.
The student protests, which soon gripped the whole country, saw at least 213 people killed in clashes and in the aftermath in July 16鈥�28.
Following the protest, the government suspended the ongoing Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalent examinations from July 18 to August 1.
The government on July 16 announced the indefinite closure of all secondary, and higher secondary level educational institutions.
The University Grants Commission of Bangladesh on July 16 also requested all the public and private universities to keep their institutions closed and vacate students鈥� residential halls until further notice.
Same day, the National University authorities also closed down all colleges under it sine die.聽
The primary and mass education ministry announced on July 17 the indefinite closure of government primary schools in areas under the jurisdiction of city corporations and later on July 20 it announced closure of all primary schools.
Before pandemic the HSC exams were usually held in April, which became largely disorganised after the pandemic.
In 2020, the HSC and equivalent examinees were awarded grade points using the subject-mapping method based on their previous results. In 2021, the HSC exams were held in December, in 2022 in November and in 2023 in August. This year the exams started on June 30.
As the exams are delayed, this year student admission in universities will be delayed too, leading to potential session jams.
The half-yearly assessment that had started in the educational institutions from this month will also be delayed due to the current closure.
The ongoing closure also caused uncertainty among those who were preparing for taking admission in Class XI, as their time ends in July.聽
The current suspension of academic activities at all public and private universities is also likely to lead the tertiary level students to suffer serious session jams.
