Students with Covid not to be marked as absent

Primary school students who will miss in-person classes after testing positive for the coronavirus or showing symptoms consistent with the disease will not be marked as absent, according to the Directorate of Primary Education.

The directorate has issued several directives ahead of the scheduled reopening of primary schools across the country on Sunday, following a year-and-a-half long pandemic-induced closure.

Alamgir Mohammed Monsurul Alam, chief of the directorate, said in-person classes would be held for students of only two grades each day, including the fifth grade, for now.

The students who will miss classes due to their own or their family members’ sickness will have to join the government’s “Ghore Bose Shikhi” and online classes, according to the instructions.

Meanwhile, teachers have been asked to remain masked-up while taking classes and ensure that the students wear masks as well.

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If the Covid-19 infection rate in an area exceeds the rate recommended by the health directorate, the respective upazila Covid-19 prevention committee has to immediately inform the Directorate of Primary Education and the district administration concerned to suspend in-person classes in the area.

All educational institutions, except universities, in Bangladesh are set to reopen in phases from Sunday.

After the reopening, the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) examinees of 2020-2021, and the Primary Education Completion (PEC) examinees will attend classes regularly while the students of grades 1-4 and 6-9 will attend classes once a week initially.

The government shut down all educational institutions across the country back in mid-March last year after health authorities detected the first few Covid-19 cases. Later, the closure was extended several times.

With the authorities recording a drop in Covid-19 cases and deaths in recent weeks, Education Minister Dipu Moni announced that schools, colleges and madrasas will be allowed to reopen.