The time to apply for admission in class one to nine in the government secondary level schools has been extended till January 7. The information was delivered by secondary and higher education directorate on Thursday. It is known that those who could not apply due to age complexities now can apply till January 7. The directorate of secondary and higher education has extended the time period following writ filed with the High Court. Besides, the suspended lottery for the admission will be held on January 11. According to the government rules the minimum age for admission in class one is more than six years and for class six it is 11 years. But due to the writ petition and following the directives the digital lottery activities were suspended and time for apply and lottery has been fixed a fresh. The application through online can be made from today. The software for submitting application will be active till 5pm of January 7. Earlier, the deadline for submitting application of secondary level students was December 27 and the selection process through online lottery was scheduled to hold on December 30. AH     

The affect of worldwide coronavirus pandemic is prevailing everywhere. The number of deaths and infected people are increasing day by day in the country. In this situation the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations of 2021 have been deferred. Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni has informed that the SSC examinations may be taken in June next year if the situation favors. The minister said this while exchanging views with the newsmen through online platform on Tuesday. Dr. Dipu Moni said, if someone is dissatisfied with the HSC results of 2020 then appeal can be made. Besides, a special ordinance has to be issued to publish the HSC results. By this time an eight-member advisory committee is working to prepare the results. She said, new books will be distributed among the students of class six to nine for twelve days due to coronavirus situation. Books will be distributed in three days for each class. Each educational institution will make a schedule. The minister also informed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the book distribution activities on December 31. New books will be distributed from January 1 to 12. AH     

The results of HSC and equivalent examinations are not going to be published in the current month. Because, the education ministry has not approved the policy for preparing the results yet. According to concerned source, the results will be published in January, 2021. Dhaka Education Board Examination Controller Professor SM Amirul Islam said, it will take one week time to prepare the HSC and equivalent examinations results when education ministry approves the results preparing policy. In this year the education ministry declared auto pass after cancelling the HSC and equivalent examinations due to the covid-19 pandemic situation. In this regard Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni earlier said that the results would be published in December. To prepare the results an eight-member grade evaluation technical committee was formed led by the Additional Secretary of education ministry. The committee has prepared a guideline along with some proposals to determine the GPA grades and sent it to the ministry at the beginning of this month. Concerned officials of the education ministry said, the publishing process has been deferred as Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni was infected with coronavirus. The proposed guideline of the technical committee could not be approved for her illness. According to the proposal of the technical committee, 25 per cent number of JSC examinations and 75 per cent number of SSC examinations will be evaluated. Those who have not appeared in the JSC examinations their results will be evaluated from the results of SSC examinations. The results will be published based on some standard, which the technical committee prepared as a policy. Then it was sent to the ministry. After policy level approval the task for preparing results will begin. The Education Minister at a press conference on October 7 gave the declaration of cancelling HSC and equivalent examinations. She at that time also declared that the students will be provided grades based on the results of JSC and SSC examinations. The number of HSC examinees in this year was 13,65,789. Concerned said, some challenges have arisen while preparing the HSC and equivalent results. There is some dissimilarity between the subjects of JSC and SSC examinations. Only some similarity is found regarding the subjects of Bangla, English and ICT. So it is challenging for comparing the subjects. On the other hand, many students change group after passing the SSC and Dakhil examinations. In that case students from business studies and science go to humanities group. Again many students after passing Dakhil and SSC vocational examinations get them admitted in the colleges. So there are challenges for the students who change groups or trade (madrasa and technical). AH             

The education sector of the country is in great trouble due to coronavirus pandemic situation and students have been remaining out of the institutional education nearly the whole year. PEC, JSC and even important HSC examinations were not held due to health risk. The admission tests in the schools have been cancelled and admissions will be held through lottery. Complexities have arisen regarding the admission process for the universities. The Book Festival will not be held on January 1, 2021. The demand for closing the education institutions from different groups arose after tracing the first coronavirus infected patient in the country on March 8. Then the government declared the education institutions closed for indefinite period from March 26. Then the closure was extended in different phases. Lastly the education ministry has extended the closure till January 16, 2021. Students have been staying far from the educational institutions nearly the whole year of 2020. This type of situation did not occur in the country after the liberation war. On August 25 the education ministry said that PEC and JSC examinations are not going to be held. The scheduled HSC examinations of April were suspended at first. After many speculations the education minister in September announced that HSC examinations will not be held. HSC results will be given based on the results of JSC and SSC examinations. Educationist Rasheda K Chowdhury said, we have not been able yet to control the coronavirus transmission. For that reason the government took the decision. But there are different opinions on how long the closure should be continued. In this year a major change has come in our education sector and that is Online Class. Students were not used to in this system. Online class was first introduced in the universities but later it was started for the schools and colleges. Although most of the students are out of the coverage of this system. Due to closure of educational institutions and health risk final examinations were not held in the schools this year. They have been promoted based on the results of the previous year. Earlier lottery was arranged for the admission of class one but this time admission in all the classes are being held based on lottery. There are major changes for university admission in this time. To avert sufferings of the students proposal of integrated admission test was given but some universities disagree with the suggestion. Later decision was made to hold the admission test under cluster method for 19 universities. The rest of the universities will arrange independent admission tests. Dhaka University will organize the test in the divisional cities. For the last several years Book Festival was held on the first day of January but it is not going to be held in 2021. Due to corona crisis printing of new books are being late. After end of printing process books will be distributed among the students by phases. Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni said, books will not be distributed by assembling students due to health risk. Educationist Rasheda K Chowdhury said, centering corona situation syllabuses for the year 2021 have to be changed and education year should be arranged in different angle. She said, we will be able to overcome the situation if the government takes special arrangements for the students including preparation for abiding by the health guidelines. She also suggested for allocation of some time limits for teaching the lessons of previous class to cover the loss of students when education institutions will be opened. AH     

Today is the Christmas Day, the birthday of Jesus Christ, first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. The Christians of different groups in Bangladesh elsewhere across the world are celebrating the day amid festivity and religious fervor. They are celebrating the day by offering special prayers, illuminating churches and installing makeshift Christmas trees at homes and places of worship and missions across the country. Elderly people of the community, attired in the outfit of Santa Claus, usually make fun with children and distribute gifts among kids as part of a universal Christian practice. But due to the pandemic COVID-19, the day is being celebrated in a limited scale maintaining health rules, including maintaining social distancing and wearing masks everywhere. The day is a public holiday. President M Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader in the Jatiya Sangsad Begum Rowshan Ershad, in separate messages, greeted members of the Christian community on the occasion. They called upon the members of the Christians community to celebrate the holy day maintaining the health rules due to the outbreak of the second spell of the fatal disease Coronavirus that struck many world countries including Bangladesh. In his message, President Hamid called upon countrymen to abide by the health rules to win the ongoing war coincided with the pandemic Coronavirus. Terming the Coronavirus as the global epidemic one, he said this lethal disease has brought human civilization to the brink of an extreme catastrophe in history. “Bangladesh is not out of it,” the head of the state added. The incumbent government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is successfully coping with the prevailing Corona situation in Bangladesh, in line with her 31-point directives, time-befitting and tireless efforts in this connection, President Hamid mentioned. He said Bangladesh is a shining example of communal harmony in the world and people of the country have been observing their respective religions, rituals and ceremonies independently for long. He also urged all to consolidate the long-standing tradition of religious harmony in the country irrespective of religion, caste and position. About Jesus Christ’s contribution to the society, Hamid said Jesus taught people in a peaceful position with love, compassion, forgiveness, affection, empathy and the establishment of justice. “In the afterlife, Jesus Christ put emphasis on the importance of spiritual happiness through renunciation, restraint, and charity,” he opined. President Hamid thought that the teachings and ideals of Jesus Christ are very relevant in establishing peace and harmony in a troubled-torn world, including the establishment of harmony and unity among nations. The President called upon all to work unitedly to build a happy, prosperous and non-communal Bangladesh, envisioned by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her message, called upon the people irrespective of religion, caste and creed to unite for building a hunger-and-poverty-free and happy-prosperous ‘Sonar Bangla (Golden Bangladesh)’, being imbued with spirit of the Great Liberation War. The premier said the COVID-19 infection has currently made the whole world very upset with the World Health Organization (WHO) calling the outbreak as a pandemic. In this context, she urged everyone to celebrate Christmas this time by maintaining health rules, including the social distancing. “Let’s pray that the Great Creator makes free our country as well as the nation from this lethal disease,” the Prime Minister added. Noting that religion belongs to the respective individual while festivals are for all, Hasina mentioned that “In our constitution, equal rights of people of all religions and castes have been ensured. . . We jointly fought to make Bangladesh an Independent state and religion is a safe haven for all people here.” Sheikh Hasina said Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem on this day and one of his vows was to establish a society, free from exploitation by establishing justice and peace in the world. The great Jesus, she mentioned, scarified himself for the poor and starving people while his ideal lifestyle and strict characteristic remains still immortal in the human history. Greeting the countrymen, specially the Christians, on the occasion, the head of the government wished for peace, welfare and prosperity of all citizens. In separate message, leader of the Opposition in the Jatiya Sangsad Begum Rowshan Ershad extended heartfelt greetings and congratulations to the country people, especially the Christians on the occasion. She said the air of peace would spread in the lives of all people across the globe by forgetting communalism, violence and discrimination in the society. “This religious festival will build solidarity among people of all faiths and strengthen the bondage of the world brotherhood,” the opposition leader hoped. On the holy day, churches in the capital are being illuminated, Christmas trees set up and candles lit at homes and churches by the Christian community to celebrate the event amid religious fervour. According to the tradition, Santa Clause is distributing sweets andgifts among children in churches on the occasion. This is a ‘great day’ for children in the Christian community, who sing carols on the occasion in praise of Jesus Christ and God, and exchange gifts. The national dailies have published special articles highlighting the importance of the Christmas. Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar and private radio stations and TV channels are airing special programmes marking the festival. Source: BSS AH