Still unsure about number of dropped out students

The number of students who have dropped out during the school closure could not be ascertained yet, said Education Minister Dipu Moni yesterday.

"We're receiving assignments from over 90 percent of students. That means they've not dropped out. Many parents are still not sending their children to schools out of fear, and that is why the presence of students in schools is not 100 percent," she said.

The minister said this while speaking at a programme at Chandpur town's Shilpakala Academy, marking Community Policing Day.

The number of students in schools will increase if the Covid situation improves further.  Schools will buzz with their presence yet again, she said.

During the closure of schools, many girl students were married off, she said. "We've instructed teachers to take steps to bring back those students to schools."

After nearly 17 months, primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in Bangladesh reopened on September 11.

The government shut the educational institutions on March 17, 2020, and later the closure was extended several times.

The pandemic-related school closure affected about 38 million students, although the government introduced TV-based learning programmes for them.

The 17-monthlong closure, termed the second longest Covid-triggered school closure in the world by Unicef, had multiple spillover effects in Bangladesh.

The increasing rate of school dropouts and child marriage top the list among the adverse impacts of such a lengthy closure.