The Milestone School and College partially reopened on Sunday 12 days after a Bangladesh Air Force fighter jet crashed into it, killing at least 34 people, most of them primary-level students of the educational institution located in the capital鈥檚 Uttara.
Scores of others, mostly schoolchildren, were injured in the incident on July 21.
On Sunday, students of the classes of IX to XII came to the campus while no classes were held. Prayer sessions were held at the campus throughout the day.
The Milestone authorities said that the academic activities of these classes would start on August 6.
The academic activities of the classes of Play Group to VIII are likely to resume from the next week, they said.
According to the Milestone authorities, among the deceased, 27 are schoolchildren, three student guardians, two schoolteachers and one school attendant. The pilot was also killed in the crash.
No one among the casualties remained unidentified or missing, they said.
Currently 34 people injured in the jet crash were still undergoing treatment at three hospitals in the capital Dhaka as of Sunday.
Milestone School and College principal Mohammad Ziaul Alam said that they had reopened the classes of IX to XII with the aim of bringing normal academic atmosphere in the educational institution.
鈥榃e haven鈥檛 held any classes today [Sunday] as we wanted the students shed off the terror they felt during and after the accident and share their feelings with us,鈥� he said.
The principal mentioned that three counselling teams operated by the Bangladesh Air Force, BRAC University and Milestone were working at present to counsel the students and the guardians.
鈥榃e have already fallen behind by two weeks for making preparations for the next year鈥檚 Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary Certificate examinations on full syllabuses, while many guardians have also urged us to reopen the classes,鈥� he said.
About resuming classroom activities, Ziaul said that they would resume academic activities of the classes of IX to XII on August 6 while the classes of Play Group to VIII might resume from the next week.
Replying to a question, he said that no classes would be held at the damaged building as probes were ongoing by the BAF and Bangladesh Army.
If the students and the guardians want, they would transfer the classes to the Milestone鈥檚 Uttara Sector 11 campus, he added.
A delegation of several physicians and nurses from Singapore, China and India also came to Bangladesh after the jet crash to assist the Bangladeshi physicians in dealing with the situation.
