Education Scheduale  in a mess

The ongoing blockade coupled with frequent hartal enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance has left academic calendars in complete disarray.Classes at most of the educational institutions could not be held and syllabuses are not being completed. More alarmingly, schedules of examinations are being deferred although some are being held at the weekends.

Examinees of the ongoing Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations have no idea when their exams will end.

The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams scheduled to begin on 1 April, are equally uncertain.

In the schools, classes are not being held, but tests are being taken. There is no way to assess if the students have actually learnt anything. Taking tests in this manner is an added pressure on the students.

Teachers, students, guardians and the education administration have asked the political parties to be more responsible and sensitive to the future of the children.

A visit to six schools and colleges in Dhaka city on Sunday and Monday revealed a dismal picture.

Though the University Grants Commission (UGC) has instructed that classes and exams be taken despite the hartal and blockade programmes, many universities are not holding their classes in full swing. This will lead to session jams in these universities.

With a break in the hartal on Tuesday, Wille’s Little Flower School, Viqaranunnessa Noon School and College, Saint Joseph’s School and quite a few others had their classes.

However, attendance rate was poor as the students had only been informed about the classes by SMS on the night beforehand.

Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid said to Prothom Alo, “Though we may be holding the SSC exams on Fridays and Saturdays, overall education has been hit hard. The disastrous programme of the BNP-Jamaat alliance has robbed the students of their confidence. This will have an impact for 40 years hence.”

Though some educational institutions are holding classes, there will be a shortfall. Efforts are on to adequately meet that shortfall.

In order to make up for the lost classes, the summer holiday this year may be cancelled and the Ramadan holiday in June shortened.

Former caretaker government advisor Rasheda K Chowdhury told Prothom Alo that the students are not getting the chance of overcoming the shocks. “No one knows when and how the situation will go back to normal.”

The academic year this time began with a hartal (shutdown). On the very first day, amidst the hartal, children were given their textbooks free of cost.

Jamaat-e-Islami, a key ally of the 20-party combine, had called the hartal. Then the agitation began, centring on the 5 January anniversary of the general elections in 2014.

The non-stop blockade began on 6 January. From February, hartals have been added to the blockade. Then there is the violence, petrol bomb blasts and acts of sabotage. Guardians are unwilling to send their wards to school and college in such circumstances.

Thus, the entire education sector has come to a virtual standstill.

At present there are 44.4 million students from the primary to the secondary level. Another three million study at college and university levels.

The 1.5 million students who are taking the SSC and similar exams have been hit the hardest.

According to the previous timetable, the written exams were to begin on 2 February and end on 10 March. But the dates of all the exams had to be deferred due to the hartals.

There are still six days of exams left, and then there are the practical exams too. The exams of 12 February are being held on 13 March and the exams of 1 March are being held on 14 March. The exams of 3, 4, 8, and 10 March have had to be postponed.

On Tuesday the authorities decided to defer the exams scheduled to be on 3 and 4 March to 20 and 21 March. The Dakhil exam scheduled for Wednesday has also been postponed.

An official of the education ministry told Prothom Alo that they are in a dilemma over fixing fresh dates for the exams. The students too are upset over the repeated change in exam schedules. Many of them are not being able to perform well.

An officer of the Dhaka secondary and higher secondary education board said, if the exams can be taken on Friday and Saturday, then the examinations can be completed by 28 March. The practical exams are to be taken from 12 March to 16 March

However, all of this has become very uncertain.Dhaka education board controller Srikanth Kumar Chanda told Prothom Alo that even if the SSC exams can be held by 28 March, then the practical exams can be finished within the next five days. “Then starting the HSC exams on 1 April won’t be a problem.”

Schools and colleges suffer the most: There was no crowd of guardians in front of Motijheel School and College on Tuesday. There were no students within. But the office was open. Principal Shahan Ara Begum said, it had not been possible to hold a single class of the new students from class I who had been freshly admitted in January. Only some classes of class V, VIII and X were held on Fridays and Saturdays in the afternoon. As this is an SSC exam centre, it is not possible to take other classes there.

The principal said, according to the academic calendar, tutorial classes were to begin on 11 April and continue till 19 April, but as classes cannot be held the syllabus has not been completed. So now the tutorial exams are uncertain. She said, “How can exams be taken without finishing the lessons?”

The head on one section of Wille’s Little Flower School and College said that they are taking classes on Fridays and Saturdays, though this will not make up for the lost classes adequately.

Last Sunday a visit to Motijheel Government Girls High School and Motijheel Government Boys High School found only teachers present, no students. The heads of both the schools said that classes were suspended because the schools were being used as exam centres. But they were concerned as no one knew when the exams would end.

UGC held a meeting with university vice chancellors on 1 March and instructed them to carry on with classes and exams.

However, classes are not being held regularly in many of the universities. Prothom Alo’s correspondent for Shahjalal University of Science and Technology said, not all departments are holding classes. This would worsen the already existing session jam.

Our Chittagong University correspondent said that classes were being held by some of the departments there.

Kushtia Islamic University correspondent said no classes were being held there since 9 January.

Regularly classes are, however, being held at Dhaka University.

An official of North South University told Prothom Alo that though they have started taking classes after the UCG directives, one and a half months of a semester had already been lost.

English medium schools have recently started holding classes on Fridays and Saturdays. But students could not take ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level exams on two days. This has been a setback.