Curbing Covid-19 is a priority, but so is continuing education

Schools and colleges in Bangladesh have remained closed for more than 500 days now, causing immense damage to the life prospects of students and putting unwarranted mental and financial burdens on parents and teachers alike. Although the government has played with the idea of vaccinating university students in order to reopen universities sometime in the near future, no such plan has yet been put forth with regard to schools and colleges. The government had previously said that it would consider reopening schools and colleges once the positivity rate of coronavirus comes down to around five percent. However, as things stand, that still seems to be a long way away, as the positivity rate throughout the country continues to hover around the 30 percent mark. How long then will schools and colleges remain closed? And at what cost?

The pandemic has not only caused havoc in our education system; it has disrupted education across the world. Yet, if we look at China—where the virus originated—education did not stop during the pandemic. In fact, China managed to continue educating its children during the entire lockdown period using the help of technology. Although it must be conceded that there is a huge technological gap between China and Bangladesh—and indeed between different parts of Bangladesh itself—the fact that the government could not come up with any solution to this problem over the course of the last 500 days is incredibly disappointing. And what's even more disappointing is the lack of attempt or vision to do so.

Not only have the students suffered during this lengthy period of school closure, but the teachers and administrators have suffered too. The financial damage wrought by the pandemic has led to many parents failing to pay their children's school fees while schools remained closed. And thousands of schools have been forced to shut down as a result, while others couldn't afford to pay their teachers. If we look at just the kindergarten-level schools, around 3,000 of them have been forced to close down, resulting in some 3.5 lakh teachers becoming unemployed. Private schools that don't rely on government support have also faced similar problems, with many teachers getting discouraged and leaving the profession altogether. The long-term damage this will cause to our education system is impossible to estimate.

Back in July, Unicef and Unesco said that the continued school closure will lead to a "generational catastrophe", and we can't agree more. It is time for the government to prioritise educating our children, as it is on their shoulders that the future of this country will depend. The government should start consultations with experts in this field on an emergency basis and formulate strategies for the continuation of all forms and levels of education. If that requires the use of advanced technology, the government should find ways to bridge the technological gap between students and provide them with the necessary devices to resume their education within a blended learning framework. Supervised, partial reopening of schools and colleges in areas where the positivity rate is lower should not be ruled out either.