Prothom Alo
In my column last week I had praised the role of expatriate Bangladeshis in the US and Australia for managing the vaccines. In response, a minister wrote that I had failed to mention that politicians within the country had an active role in arranging the vaccines. In other words, I had denied giving credit to the politicians. That is not true. In my writings I have repeatedly highlighted the tireless efforts of the minister and state minister for foreign affairs and concerned officials in bringing in vaccines from various countries.
Among the politicians that I had mentioned in that column, some are in the government, but not in the foreign ministry. We said that while our government and opposition party leaders are busy almost every single day giving accounts of success or failure in tackling coronavirus, four expatriate Bangladeshis in the US had set an example in obtaining vaccines free of cost from the US and COVAX.
The minister also said that when the Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar, during his Dhaka visit in February, had hinted that there may be a hitch in vaccine supply, the foreign ministry immediately started efforts for vaccine procurement from all possible sources. We laud this effort. But we must express our criticism when Russia delayed in vaccine supply due to mistakes of the health ministry, or when China expressed its displeasure. Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen also criticised this. The foreign minister’s urging was also behind the initiative of the four expatriate physicians.
There are two reasons behind the criticism aimed at the government regarding vaccine import. Firstly, the involvement of a third party or agent. Secondly, not looking to alternative sources. Later the government signed bilateral deals with other countries for vaccine procurement. There was no third party involved. That means our criticism was justified.
We have been saying all along that the vaccination drive must be stepped up. Even if 10 million jabs are given a month, it will take two years for 80 per cent of the population to be vaccinated. The health minister said that 220 million (22 crore) vaccines will be available within a year or a year and a half. The prime minister has said that the coronavirus vaccines will be manufactured in the country. We can then hope that there will be no shortage of vaccines. The government has now decided that anyone over 25 years of age qualifies to be vaccinated. Also priority will be given to the front line fighters such as physicians, nurses, health workers and others engaged in emergency services, as well as their families. Students are on the priority list too.
UNESCO’s executive director Henrietta Fore and UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay in a joint statement said that it has been 18 months since the outbreak of coronavirus. The education of millions of children is being hampered and so educational institutions must be opened up immediately
A press release of the education ministry on Thursday said that the ongoing holiday of all secondary and higher secondary educational institutions in the country as well as Ebtedayee and Qawmi madrasas, will be extended to 31 August. The closure had been up till 31 July. The ministry said that as the coronavirus situation had deteriorated all over the country and a strict ‘lockdown’ was in force, the holiday has been extended in consultation with the national technical advisory committee for Covid-19, in the health interests of the students, teachers, employees and guardians and for overall safety.
While asking several public health experts about what stage the second wave of coronavirus was in at present, they said that the transmissions will probably continue to rise up till 10 to 12 August. Then this will start to subside as in India. It was a similar picture in Bangladesh last year too.
The prevailing restrictions are up till 5 August. The restrictions will probably be relaxed within a week or two, if not fully lifted. What about the thousands of students of the thousands of educational institutions all over the country? When will they be able to return to their classes? The education ministry has decided to hold the SSC and HSC exams in a concise form. Each group will have exams in three subjects. No exams will be required for Bangla, English, math and a fourth subject.
No decision has been taken about JSC and PEC. These two annual exams weren’t held last year because of the pandemic. There can be no reason to hold these exams this year either. Where the government can’t take the extremely crucial examinations, why are they bothered about these unnecessary ones? Educationists have said these two exams should be abolished permanently. The government, for unknown reasons, had not paid any heed to this advice.
All educational institutions have remained closed since 17 March last year. Before this closure ended, another holiday was declared. Hopefully the closure won’t be extended beyond 31 August. Education minister Dipu Moni recently assured the people that once the students were vaccinated, the educational institutions would be reopened. Last May a plan was even drawn up about the reopening of educational institutions. But this could not be implemented due to a surge in coronavirus.
While the government remains in a dilemma over whether to open the educational institutions or not, the UNESCO spokesperson James Elder said in Geneva last Tuesday that schools cannot simply remain closed. The governments of various countries are making all possible efforts to tackle the Covid-19 crisis and keep the transmissions down. The opening of schools shouldn’t be delayed until all teachers and students are vaccinated. On 12 July UNESCO’s executive director Henrietta Fore and UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay in a joint statement said that it has been 18 months since the outbreak of coronavirus. The education of millions of children is being hampered and so educational institutions must be opened up immediately. Till 12 July, Bangladesh was among the 19 countries in the world that has kept primary and secondary schools closed. This long closure had hampered the studies of around 40 million (4 crore) students.
The education ministry had used the vaccines as an excuse for so long. Now the vaccines are here or are on the way. So there can no longer be any justification to keep the educational institutions closed.
There is more risk for children and young students. We hope the government will first open up the universities. (In an interview with the media, the UGC chairman Kazi Shahidullah had said that the universities will be reopened within a month or two.) Next degree colleges can open. After that, secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions can open, primary schools last of all.
The bottom line is, the vaccines have arrived. Kindly open up education.
* Sohrab Hassan is joint editor, Prothom Alo, and a poet. He can be contacted at sohrabhassan55@gmail.com
* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir