Education ministry urges mobile operators to provide free internet packages
 
The authorities of various schools and colleges may promote their students to their next classes on the basis of internal evaluation systems and without examinations, officials of the Education Ministry have told .

Prof Ziaul Haque, Chairman, Dhaka Education Board, said there was no legal barrier to promoting students without exams.

“Promotion is an internal decision of each educational institution and there is no need for additional guidance or the issuance of a notice from the governmental authorities,” he said.

Prof Harun-ur-Rashid, college Inspector of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, also said there was no ordinance or mandatory directive from the board or ministry for promoting students only after holding exams.

“The authorities of the institutions may take decisions and follow their own evaluation systems for promoting students to the next grade level without exams,” he added.  

However, he sounded the caveat that such a system would not apply to exams where the education boards were involved.

“Some college authorities have asked the board for suggestions on how to take an exam, but practically it is not possible to take exams during the pandemic while properly following health guidelines. Institutions may promote students on the basis of previous monthly exams and previous class test results,” he said.

In addition, there had been an instruction from the board to complete the examinations of class XI by May 25, before the start of the pandemic, and the syllabus for class XI was over by then, he added.

He also said there were still 5 months to take the final exam for Classes Six to Ten, so they might still be able to take exams if the Covid-19 situation became normalized.

“Besides, the education board does not give the internal final exam date without board exams,” he said.

What will happen to HSC exams?
The education boards had taken all kinds of preparations to conduct admission procedures for the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent programs for the 2020-21 academic session at colleges across the country before the pandemic.

“The education minister takes care of this matter, so we are waiting for a decision from the ministry,” said Prof Harun-ur-Rashid.

“Although we could publish the SSC results, we cannot begin the admission procedure due to the prevailing situation in the country. The HSC and equivalent exams were scheduled to start on April 1, but we could not start them for the same reason," he added.

Education ministry urges mobile operators to provide free internet packages

Meanwhile, Education Minister Dipu Moni has called on mobile telecom operator companies to provide free or low-cost internet packages for students.

“Many students cannot afford the internet in order to participate in online classes. We have already discussed the matter with mobile operators,” she said while speaking as chief guest at an online seminar.

The seminar, titled “What we should do about education in the current global crisis,” was organized by the Awami League sub-committee on education and human resources on Monday.

Regarding the payment of tuition fees during the closure of educational institutions, the education minister said many educational institutions were pressuring students to pay tuition fees as they had been closed for a long time.

She said the institutions would not be able to pay the salaries of their teachers if they did not receive tuition fees, so both the institutions and the parents of students needed to make some concessions.