But at the end of the year, the emergence of a new, highly infectious variant of COVID-19, omicron, again raised the possibility of another nationwide shutdown of schools and colleges.

Experts hailed the reopening of schools as the biggest positive for Bangladesh in 2021. Yet the unprecedented time students have spent away from schools has resulted in untold losses for the education sector.

However, the greatest challenge lies in repairing the damage caused by the pandemic to the prospects of future generations.

This generation of students is at risk of losing $ 17 trillion in lifetime income in current value, or about 14% of current global GDP, due to school closures linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a released report by the World Bank, UNESCO and UNICEF.

Schoolchildren around the world have lost an estimated 1.8 trillion hours of in-person learning since the start of the pandemic and subsequent closings, according to a UNICEF report released in September.

Even before a loss recovery plan could be implemented, omicron added new concerns as its rapid spread is forcing countries around the world to once again resort to strict restrictions.

Education Minister Dipu Moni has previously said schools and colleges will be closed again if the variant is rampant.

Bangladesh suspended all classes and exams a week after discovering the first case of COVID-19 on March 8, 2020. Students had to wait 543 days for things to return to normal as classes resumed on September 12 of this year.

Distance learning was introduced to get things done, but it ultimately proved unnecessary to keep students engaged. With the resumption of face-to-face lessons, the students were able to take the exams again after a long wait.

The secondary school certificate and upper secondary school certificate examinations took place on a shorter schedule after a nine-month delay. SSC testing began on November 14, marking the resumption of public testing after a year and a half.

The HSC 2021 and equivalent exams began on December 2 after students were graded on their JSC and SSC average scores last year.

The pandemic-induced hiatus from studies also raised fears of an increase in the dropout rate, and concerns were well founded as evidenced by low participation in SSC and HSC exams this year.

Officials said attendance was lower at institutions attended primarily by students from low-income families.

The academician, Professor Syed Manjurul Islam, said many families have suffered from a financial crisis as a result of the pandemic. As a result, many boys and girls have focused on the needs of their families. Some families have even married girls to ensure their financial viability.

“The government needs to demarcate these students and provide financial support to bring them back to class. “

A professor in the English department at Dhaka University, Manjurul stressed the importance of investing more in the education sector.

Due to the long interruption of studies, the government suspended all annual exams, PEC and JSC this year.

Dipu Moni believes that the impact of taking exams on a reduced curriculum will be evident next year. She added that students will also be tested on the revised curriculum in the future.

University students, meanwhile, staged protests in 2021 to demand the reopening of campuses and dormitories to avoid traffic jams. Campuses began to reopen the last week of September this year, after the start of vaccination campaigns to immunize students across the country.

University entrance exams, which also remained suspended due to the COVID stranglehold, also began at the end of September. The University of Dhaka organized for the first time this year admission tests in all the cities of the division.

Most universities organized entrance exams in clusters. But the best universities in the country opposed the system and students were forced to travel to different parts of the country to attend the tests.

In September, the government proposed a new curriculum, instituting a series of changes, for primary and secondary levels. The plan aims to implement the changes by 2025 and is slated for trial in 100 primary schools and 100 secondary schools from January.

The new method eliminates all exams up to the third year and all public exams before the SSC. It also plans to do away with the existing system of core subjects divided into science, business and humanities after the eighth grade.

The collective assessment before moving to the next class will be preceded by learning assessments throughout the year.

Experts believe the changes are in line with the goal of making education more effective and realistic. Yet doubts remain as to the feasibility of its implications for the system.

Teachers at Udayan School in Dhaka greet students with flowers and chocolates amid the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday, September 12, 2021 after the long shutdown. Photo: Kazi Salahuddin Razu

Professor SM Hafizur Rahman of the Institute of Education and Research of the DU or IER believes that the implementation of the new program is a big challenge.

“The developed countries of the world have such study programs. But does Bangladesh have the educational infrastructure or the teachers with the required skills and training like these countries do?

“Most schools in our country have 80 to 100 or more students in each class. Will our teachers be able to correctly assess so many students? “

“We need a lot more teachers to lead the lessons under the new curriculum. We need to train teachers and prepare them for lessons. This should have been done before introducing the program.

The government says the move aims to make education “enjoyable” by making learning experiential and interactive, moving away from over-reliance on books and memorization.

Speaking on Toufique Imrose Khalidi Live earlier this month, Dipu Moni said that testing the revised curriculum aims to iron out some of the underlying issues while teachers receive training for its proper application.

Teachers at Udayan School in Dhaka greet students with flowers and chocolates amid the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday, September 12, 2021 after the long shutdown. Photo: Kazi Salahuddin Razu

Although the education system is operational after a long hiatus, the experts asked the authorities to pay special attention to the recovery of the learning losses suffered in the past two years.

Fahima Khatun, former director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education, believes that incorporating lessons from the previous year into the new curriculum can help students cope with their studies.

She said the coronavirus had dealt a heavy blow to efforts to reduce social distinction in education.

Even though online courses can minimize the damage to higher education, it would be much more difficult to make up for the losses suffered by high school students.

“Only one or two classes have taken place in primary schools this year, which is not enough to cover the losses. To do this, lessons from previous years should be included in the curriculum when classes start at the start of the year. This was done in primary this year. This must go until the eighth year.

Syeda Tahmina Akhter, professor at the Institute of Education and Research at Dhaka University, called for more efforts to bring students, who have escaped the cracks, back to classrooms.

“Otherwise, a large part of the students will stay outside [of studies]. “

[Written in English by Syed Mahmud Onindo, edited by Turaj Ahmad]