Schools to Remain Closed During Ramadan, Holidays Begin Thursday

After various dramatic developments over the holiday schedule, a decision has been made to keep all government and non-government primary and secondary schools closed for the entire month of Ramadan.

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education announced the decision on Wednesday evening.

According to the academic calendar and holiday list, the Ramadan and Eid holidays were previously scheduled to begin on March 8.

On Thursday, the first day of taking office, the new government reversed that earlier decision and decided to close schools from the very first day of Ramadan.

On that day, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education took the decision separately.

A decision had already been made earlier to keep colleges and madrasas closed from the beginning of Ramadan.

On Wednesday evening, the Secondary and Higher Education Division published a revised holiday list and academic calendar announcing the closure of secondary and lower secondary schools for the entire month.

Meanwhile, Additional Secretary Shahana Sharmin said that the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education had also decided to keep primary schools closed throughout Ramadan.

She told journalists that the revised holiday list would be published on the website.

Later, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education formally declared primary schools closed from Thursday and revised the holiday list and academic calendar accordingly.

Government primary schools and government and non-government secondary and lower secondary schools will remain closed for Eid holidays until Thursday, March 26. After the following two days of weekly holidays on Friday and Saturday, classes at these educational institutions will resume from March 29.

In other years, it has been customary to keep all educational institutions closed for the entire month of Ramadan. However, this year a decision had been made to keep government and non-government secondary and lower secondary schools, government primary schools, and technical education institutions open until March 8 during Ramadan. Government and non-government colleges and madrasas, however, had already been declared closed for the entire month of Ramadan.

Due to the 13th National Parliament Election, referendum, and Shivaratri observance, primary and secondary schools and colleges had remained closed for five consecutive days. Classes resumed on Monday.

However, through the election holidays, teachers and students of madrasas had already begun their Eid holidays.

According to the college holiday list and academic calendar, Eid holidays in colleges begin on Wednesday, and classes will resume from March 29.

Although the holidays for government primary schools and government and non-government secondary and lower secondary schools were initially scheduled to begin on March 8, the BNP-led new government withdrew from that interim decision the day after assuming office.

Even before the government’s decision, Supreme Court lawyer Ilias Ali Mondal had filed a writ petition in court last Sunday seeking an order to keep secondary schools closed for the entire month of Ramadan.

In response to that writ petition, the High Court ordered the closure of secondary schools for the entire month of Ramadan to eliminate “holiday disparity” between madrasas and general educational institutions.

However, the following day, upon hearing an application filed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Education, the Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division, Justice Farah Mahbub, stayed the High Court’s order.