VCs split over bringing university reopening date forward

The government has shown interest in bringing forward the reopening date of in-person classes at universities, but the vice chancellors are yet to reach a consensus on the issue.

Education Minister Dipu Moni on Friday said that the ministry would sit with the university authorities about university reopening. If the vice-chancellors agree to open at the same time as other educational institutions, they can open on September 12 or set a different date.

According to the previous plan, universities were scheduled to open after October 15. 

At the same time, a meeting on the issue will be held between the Education Minister and the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Sunday.

The vice chancellors of the universities might take a decision after the meeting. 

The VCs of some universities have said they are ready to comply with any decision of the government, but they want at least a week’s time to prepare before classes resume.

However, others said the early date may put them in trouble as the government had earlier decided to reopen universities after inoculating teachers and students with Covid-19 vaccines. The authorities prepared a roadmap according to that decision and had already started the process.

Also Read - In-person classes once a week likely after schools reopen

Jahangirnagar University VC Professor Dr. Farzana Islam said: "We will need one week’s preparation time to open the campus for students. However, as the vaccination process has been started keeping mid-October [as university opening time] in mind, we will need to rethink that as well.”

Prof Satya Prasad Majumder, VC of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), said that already 50% of their students had taken the first dose of vaccine. “If we need to reopen the campus before the planned time we will need to discuss the matter at the academic council first.”

Dhaka University VC Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman the university authorities were working on reopening according to the previous plan. A decision to reopen could only be taken after September 15, after the updated inoculation data were received.

Association of Universities of Bangladesh (AUB) President and Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) VC Prof Md Rafiqul Alam said that a decision would be taken after a meeting between the UGC and the Ministry of Education.

After remaining closed for a year and a half, the date for a reopening of educational institutions from primary to higher secondary level has been set as September 12.