3,814 schools in flood-hit dists closed [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

3,814 schools in flood-hit dists closed

Local August 16, 2017

Flooding forced closure of at least 3,814 primary and secondary schools until Tuesday, seriously hampering education of thousands of students in 12 northern and north-eastern districts.
Education officials at district and divisional levels said that flood is not only causing unscheduled closure of classes but also delaying the mid-term school exams.
Rangpur division primary education officials also have suspended second terminal examinations for all 9,400 primary schools for an indefinite period due to flooding in the division.
Meanwhile, National University authorities have suspended degree pass and certificate examinations of the students of 2015 (old syllabus) scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday due ongoing floods in the country.
National University acting examination controller Badruzzaman said that they had suspended philosophy fourth part exam for August 16 (Wednesday) and geography fourth part exam for August 17 (Thursday) due to deteriorating flood situation.
New timetable of the suspended examination will be announced later, he added.
On July 15, the examination began with the participation of 2.67 lakh students of 1,600 colleges across the country.
The prevailing floods have also negatively impacted the primary and secondary education sectors with buildings as those were submerged and will require renovations, said district and divisional level officials, adding that they started to send reports to their higher officials regarding closure and damages of school infrastructures.
The officials also said that attendance at the schools that were still open was also thin.
The school authorities have been asked to suspend classes for Class I and II students of schools in the adjacent areas which had gone under water.
At least 2,680 primary schools and 1,134 secondary schools and colleges have so far been closed due to flooding in the northern districts of Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, Panchagar, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Thakurgaon, Rangpur, Bogra, Sirajganj, Jamalpur and the north-eastern Sunamganj, according to district education and primary education officials.
Directorate of Primary Education Rangpur division deputy director Mahbub Elahi said that in the last several days, academic activities remained suspended at 1,053 primary schools in the division and another 667 such educational institutions were being used as flood shelters.
He said that they had decided to suspend all second terminal examinations for all schools of the division due to floods. The exams were scheduled to begin on August 19.
‘We will make decision about new examinations date observing the flood situation’, he added.
According to DPE, there are 9,400 government, newly nationalised and registered primary schools in the division with about two million students.
Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education Rangpur division director Sirajul Islam said that academic activities of 660 secondary schools of the same division were suspended due to the floods.
Education officers said that 419 primary schools and 107 secondary schools were closed in Sunamganj, 469 primary and 312 secondary schools in Jamalpur, 54 primary and six secondary schools in Bogra and 18 primary and 49 secondary schools in Sirajganj were closed for floods.
Unable to attend classes, candidates of Primary Education Completion Examinations and Junior School Certificate Examinations were the worst sufferers as the exams are due in November.
Attendance fell sharply in many schools and colleges with some of them, having gone under flood waters, holding classes elsewhere.
The floods have disrupted schooling of many students who have taken shelter on embankments or flood-free areas without being able to take their books with them.
‘We cannot take the risk of life of any student, as the schools are inundated in water as well as the roads leading to the institutions,’ said Bayazid Khan, the district primary education officer of Sunamganj district.
District education officers said that efforts were on to keep the schools open ahead of primary and the junior secondary exams.
District education officers feared that with many schools needing heavy repairs, the students would continue to suffer disruption in classroom studies even after the flood water receded.
The possibility of water-borne diseases breaking out posed another challenge, they said.
The authorities of Islamic University in Kushtia postponed Arabic first part examination of Fazil second year under its 2016 academic session due to heavy rainfall in northern districts on Tuesday morning, IU Correspondent reported.
The decision was made at an emergency meeting with IU vice-chancellor Professor M Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari in the chair.
IU deputy controller of examinations M Arif Mollah told New Age that IU vice-chancellor postponed the examination which was scheduled to be held on Wednesday. The next date of the examination would be announced soon on the university website at www.iu.ac.bd, he added.