All universities to open this month: Education Minister
Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni, on Monday, said all universities of the country are expected to reopen within this month.
She made the announcement while addressing a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
When asked by the cabinet why the universities' reopening is being delayed, Dipu Moni was hopeful that all the universities would be reopened this month.
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Following the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam said, "The cabinet has discussed the present scenario of the educational institutions. The education minister has explained why universities' reopening is being delayed."
"As the universities follow their own syndicate decision, the minister is hoping that all the universities will be opened within this month," he said while briefing the media.
The cabinet secretary further said the condition of the residential halls have deteriorated as they had been closed for a long time.
"This is considered to be one of the major reasons for the delay in reopening universities as they need to check whether students' belongings are still usable or not," he added.
Anwarul Islam cited the education minister saying that public and private university examinations will be held as per schedule. "If the situation does not deteriorate, it will not change."
At present, there are 51 public universities and 108 private universities in the country. 39 public universities conduct their educational activities on-campus.
Educational institutions from primary to higher secondary levels reopened across the country on 12 September after a 542-day long closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The next day, government reopened medical colleges as well.
The students mostly remained out of their academic study since 17 March 2020 when the educational institutions were closed due to the pandemic.
The government had to call off multiple public examinations slated for 2020.
There are 1.5 lakh educational institutions with five crore students from primary to higher education in the country.
