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Dhaka, Bangladesh – For the first time in 18 months, Adnan Hassan found himself in school uniform—a crisp white shirt and blue pants—standing in the queue.
On Sunday, the fifth-grade student wearing a mask waited in front of the arched door of the Udayan School in the capital Dhaka. Hundreds of thousands of children in Bangladesh returned to the classroom after 543 days-the longest coronavirus in the world One of the suspension hours.
While the children were waiting to enter Udayan School, two workers stood at the door, distributing hand sanitizer to those entering the school, while another worker used a thermometer to measure body temperature.
Many Bangladeshi children return to the classroom after 543 days[Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]In March last year, Hassan passed this gate for the last time. He did not line up and did not check his temperature. They also don’t need to wear masks.
But the pandemic changed everything, forcing millions of children like him around the world to stay at home.
In a report last week, UNICEF warned that prolonged school closures during the COVID crisis have exacerbated “worrisome inequality” among more than 430 million children in South Asia.
“School closures in South Asia have forced hundreds of millions of children and their teachers to transition to distance learning in an area with low connectivity and equipment affordability,” UNICEF regional director George Laria-Ajay said in a statement .
“Therefore, the children suffered huge setbacks in the learning process.”
Now that he is back at school, Hassan is ecstatic.
“I can’t describe the feeling of going back to school in words,” he told Al Jazeera. “I will meet all my friends in many years. This is great.”
Many schools welcome their students with sweets and flowers [Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]‘No other choice but face-to-face courses’
Like Hassan, thousands of elementary and middle school students across Bangladesh have returned to classrooms, some decorated with balloons and ribbons in Dhaka.
Many schools welcome their students with candies and flowers, and the children embrace each other in excitement.
On Sunday, Education Minister Dipu Moni warned against implementing any lax safety measures in schools.
“Students in grades one to four and grades six to ninth will attend classes once a week, initially for three weeks,” she said.
Moni said that those who plan to take public exams at the end of fifth, tenth and twelfth grades will have classes every day, adding that all other classes will gradually resume.
According to data from the Bangladesh Telecom Operators Association, only 41% of its 169 million population owns smartphones, and students in rural areas suffer more from the lack of high-speed internet.
A study conducted by the Bangladeshi NGO BRAC found that approximately 56% of students in the country had not taken online or recorded courses during the pandemic.
“For these poor students, they have no choice but to attend face-to-face courses. Therefore, I believe the government has made a very good decision by reopening the school,” educator Syed Md Golam Faruk told Al Jazeera.
The government says that nearly 97% of teachers and staff in the country have been vaccinated [Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]The students also agreed.
“Yes, there are online courses. We even pass online exams to advance to the next grade. But there is no choice but to face-to-face courses,” Dhaka Monipur High School student Zarif Lehan told Al Jazeera.
“We go to see friends in class, chat with them, hang out in the school cafeteria or school playground. We don’t go to class just for learning. Unfortunately, online courses take away all the interesting parts of learning,” he said.
Raihan said: “Things have changed a lot [since the pandemic], But the joy in the school building remains the same. “
Open an account carefully
Bangladesh recorded 51 deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total death toll to 26,931. 1,871 new infections were recorded, and the total number of infections exceeded 1.5 million.
According to the government, in order to reopen schools, nearly 97% of teachers and staff in the country have been vaccinated.
School authorities are also taking some preventive measures.
Students have been instructed to ensure hygiene in class and keep their distance from peers. The benches that used to hold four or five students now can only hold two people at most. They are also prohibited from bringing any home-cooked food into the store.
Students in Dhaka classroom keep their distance [Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera]Syeda Akhter, the principal of Dhaka Narinda Government High School, told Al Jazeera that they have been strictly abiding by the health guidelines and agreements issued by the government.
“We measure the body temperature of each student at the school gate. We also make sure they wash or disinfect their hands. In the classroom, students are asked to sit three feet to maintain social distance,” Acht said.
Sheikh Shalok Ahmed, the principal of the Capital Mars Laboratory School, said that they allow the class attendance rate to reach 50%.
He told Al Jazeera: “We have a four-shift system instead of a two-shift system so that all students can move in.”
Ahmed said that the country’s coronavirus infection rate is declining and hopes that the school will return to normal as soon as possible.
“The government mentioned a warning that if the infection rate rises, then schools may face suspension again. But I hope the situation will get better,” he said.
However, the joy and enthusiasm of students and teachers contrasts sharply with some parents, who worry that the hasty reopening may put their children at risk of contracting COVID-19.
“If compared to July or August when we witnessed the third wave of coronavirus, the infection rate has dropped. But the COVID is still there, and I make my children feel uncomfortable going to school,” Mabupur, the father of an eighth grader Hack told Al Jazeera.
Shahnaz Begum, the mother of a high school student, disagrees.
“Because of the school closure, our children are very upset. They are all locked up at home and addicted to their devices. The opening of this school is a blessing for them,” she said.
The educator Faruk also believes that reopening schools is more beneficial than parents’ expressed fear of harm.
“Bangladesh’s school closure is one of the longest in the world. We have no choice but to start school because the prolonged closure during the pandemic has exacerbated inequality among millions of children in Bangladesh,” he said.
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