Children’s Appeal to Government: we want to return to school in accordance with hygiene, don’t want the schools to be closed again due of corona

Educo Bangladesh on 13 September 2021 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.  A rapid survey findings of students and parents on school opening and impact on Education during Covid Pandemic has been presented by Mostafizur Rahman, Coordinator, Monitoring and evaluation.

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. He also told that,

“We all want our children to return to their normal school life through our joint efforts and 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’.

The guest Speaker Prof. Md. Abdul Halim, Director,  Education and Research Institute of  Dhaka University in his speech 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’. Another guest speaker Dr. Mohammad Nurul Bashar, Specialist of the Primary Wing of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board said that,  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.