Children’s appeal: We don’t want schools to be closed again due to Covid

Educo Bangladesh on Monday (September 13) under the banner of ‘Safe Back to School Campaign’, organized a virtual dialogue titled ‘Schools Reopened: Our Thoughts and How Ready We Are’.

About 200 children, teenagers, youth, and parents from different districts of the country participated in the dialogue. Professor Dr. Md. Abdul Halim, Director, Institute of Education and Research, Dhaka University and Mohammad Nurul Bashar, Specialist, Primary Wing, National Curriculum and Textbook Board: NCTB were present as the guest speaker at today’s event.

Abdul Hamid, Country Director, Educo Bangladesh, applauded the Government of Bangladesh for its decision to reopen the educational institution after 18 months in the COVID-19 situation in favor of the Safe Back to School Campaign and pledged full cooperation in this initiative.

“We all want our children to return to their normal school life through our joint efforts,” he said.

He further added, ‘At the same time, we need to work with the government to bring back all the children who are in risk of dropping out during this period of crisis’.

A survey conducted by Educo Bangladesh in August 2021 found that the COVID-19 had a diverse impact on our children's education. Through online and phone-based interviews, 320 children, adolescents, youths aged 6-18 years and 153 parents from 11 upazilas of 6 districts took part in it.

About 74% of the children, adolescents and young people who took part in the survey studied with the help of their siblings and parents. 18% took the help of teachers and 15% studied with the help of Parliament TV. 91% of children and 99% of parents said that children have faced various problems due to school closure. 94% of children and 33% of parents strongly support the idea of opening schools.

All these children and parents think that if they get support of the teachers and family care after the schools reopen, they will be able to make up for the loss of the past, at least a little bit, and they strongly urge the government to provide the necessary materials for the schools to comply with the hygiene rules. Strengthen surveillance so that the schools are not closed again due to COVID-19.

Dhaka University Education and Research Institute Director Prof. Md. Abdul Halim said, ‘Educational institutions need to pay more attention to students after the reopening of the schools.

They need to pay special attention to their mental health. To make the education system attractive, and ensure providing safe education to the children in a safe manner, not keeping the schools closed during such extremes’. In his speech, the expert of the Primary Wing of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, Dr. Mohammad Nurul Bashar said changes have been made in their teaching and learning methods to get students back to class and the role of the teachers are very important in filling the gap that has been created between the teachers and students during the school closure period.