As the educational institutions were closed from late March this year following novel corona virus outbreak, the students of school, college, madrashah and some other educational institutions have been passing time moving here and there. They are spending time in mobile games with other students.
As there are no other alternatives, a good number of the students mix with the dishonest boys. Some of the children that belong to poor and disadvantaged families are engaged as day labourers, rickshaw van peddlers, earth cutters, and helpers of carpenters.
The online class facilities for all the students were not introduced for lack of government planning or facilities. The matter became headache to the guardians thinking the future of the children.
When contacted, a number of guardians of school, college and madrashah level students in Jhenidah and surrounding areas expressed their grave concern over the matter. They mentioned about the closure of school, college and madrashah, and in this regard also mentioned that the government had imposed barrier on private tuition.
As a result, the children usually sit for one or two hours on the reading table once or twice a day. They stay at home without any productive work. To remove the loneliness, they leave houses with other same-aged children and move here and there. They sometimes enjoy various games on smart phones of their friends together for hours.
Some guardians said that a good number of the children were engaged and mixing with some evil-doing boys. They ride on motorbike and move recklessly on the roads on daytime where the guardians are helpless and hopeless observers and onlookers of the scenario. They said the mentality of their children is being changed day by day when they were not involved in regular study.
According to the office sources of district education office in Jhenidah, about 120,000 students have been studying in 287 secondary and junior level schools, about 26 thousand higher secondary students in 58 colleges and another 20 thousand in madrashahs in Jhenidah Sadar, Kaliganj, Kotchandpur, Moheshpur, Shailkupa and Harinakundu upazila of the district.
District education officer (DEO) in Jhenidah Sushanto Kumar Dev when contacted said they had closed the educational institutions for an indefinite time as directed by the government considering the global pandemic.
Admitting about passing time of the children here and there aimless in longtime vacancy due to global pandemic corona virus, the education department official said they were waiting for further instructions from the higher authorities.
They have introduced online classes at Salimunnessa girls’ high school in Kaliganj, Government girls’ high school at Kotchandpur and Jhenidah online school. Some of the students belong to well to do families and can participate in the classes with their own smart phones.
But about 90 per cent of the total students do not have the access to smart phones or similar electronic device facilities. The learners in the remote areas lack in electricity, colour television, computer, dish line connections as well. As a result the way to learn through the online classes for them is a dream for them.
