Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury has commented that the mentality of closing schools should be avoided during heatwave. He said that the parents demanded school closure through various media including social media due to the high temperature. But at the same time other institutions are being run. The state can not be run on the basis of discussion, he added.
The minister said this while addressing as the chief guest at the inaugural of the ‘Technical and Vocational Education Week-2024’ at the Agargaon women's polytechnic institute in the capital on Sunday.
The education minister said that it would not be appropriate to close down the educational institutions of the country only considering the temperature of Dhaka. Only 5 districts of the country have observed the temperature is likely to reach 40 degrees. This temperature is not new for the country.
Due to this pretext, parents also had to close many air-conditioned schools under pressure. As a result, we have to make decisions based on reality and not on popularity. In districts where the temperature will be more than 42 degrees, the primary education officer, secondary education officer and other concerned authority may close the educational institutions for that area after considering the matter.
Mohibul Hasan added that our 10-day teaching has already been interrupted.
Apart from this, there is additional pressure to implement the new curriculum in various classes. It has been decided to keep schools open on Saturday to fill these deficiencies.
There is a discussion on whether Saturdays should be closed throughout the year as per the new curriculum format. But later action will be taken as per need.