University authorities will be able to reopen halls and start teaching in classroom with the approval of their academic council after all students complete Covid-19 vaccine registration by September 27, this month.
The decision was taken at a tripartite virtual meeting of Minister for Education Dr Dipu Moni, officials of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Vice-chancellors of different universities on Tuesday.
Confirming the decision, Information and Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education MA Khair told Bangladesh Post, “All public and private university teachers and students in the country will have to complete the registration for vaccination against Corona virus by September 27. The university authorities will then be able to start teaching activities with the approval of their academic council.”
“Universities can open their residential halls after September 27 if they want, even if all the students are not vaccinated. In that case, they will have to start jabbing by setting up health centers on their respective university campuses,” he added.
He further said students who do not have National Identity Card (NID) have to send their birth registration number to UGC. They will be able to register for the vaccine by adding the birth registration number in the ‘Surokkha’ app.
Earlier on August 26, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education had a meeting with the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 to monitor the Corona situation and reopen educational institutions. There, it was suggested to reopen universities in the country in phases.
It was then also informed that the universities would start opening from mid-October. But before that, all the universities have to send information about the vaccination to UGC. The universities completed 100 percent vaccination will open first.
Educational institutions were closed on March 17, 2020 after the outbreak of coronavirus. After a year and a half, the primary, secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions reopened on September 12.
Later, medical colleges, dental and nursing related educational institutions opened on Monday. Now the university goers are waiting eagerly to go back to their beloved premises.
