Primary students to be promoted without exams

The government has decided to promote all students from first to fifth grades without traditional yearly final examinations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision was announced in a handout from the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) on Monday.

Signed by Director General Alamgir Muhammad Mansurul Alam, it directed teachers to take necessary actions to evaluate students.

The handout noted that online classes were taken during the virus shutdown to keep academic activities uninterrupted.

Bangladesh shut educational institutions on March 17, just a week after the first cases of coronavirus were reported on March 8.

The closure has been extended in phases to December 19, apprehending that there could be a second wave of coronavirus infections in winter.

Meanwhile, the government also decided not to take any Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations as well as Primary Education Completion (PEC) and its equivalent Ebtedayee examinations for 2020.

Students will be promoted to the next class through class assessments instead.

As the coronavirus spreads rapidly when people come in contact with infected persons, the government says it will put students at risk.

Bangladesh’s coronavirus caseload stands at 449,760 with 6,416 fatalities. The government has already signed a deal for procuring 30 million doses of vaccine.