Dipu Moni
No changes on religion made to textbooks: Dipu Moni
Alleging that a BNP-Jamaat-Shibir faction is spreading propaganda through social media from abroad, Education Minister Dipu Moni claimed that nothing new on religion was included in or dropped from the textbooks.
Dipu Moni made the remarks while answering to the questions of journalists after distributing cheques from the prime minister’s rehabilitation fund among the river-erosion-affected families in 2021-2022 fiscal year at Chandpur sadar upazila parishad auditorium on Saturday.
“People who want to confuse religious people are now trying to fish in troubled water ahead of the national election. They want to destabilize the country. That’s why they (BNP-Jamaat-Shibir) are confusing people by spreading a video of wrong information of a lawmaker,” she said.
Also read: Education Minister embarrassed by assault on Rajshahi college principal
“There is no scope to take direct legal action against them. In this case, people will have to be conscious and responsible,” she added.
Additional deputy commissioner Imtiaz Hossain, additional police superintendent Sudipta Roy were among others present.
Dipu Moni, later, inaugurated a weeklong tree plantation fair at Hasan Ali Govt High School ground
Also read: SSC, equivalent exams to begin on September 15: Dipu Moni
Education Minister embarrassed by assault on Rajshahi college principal
Education Minister Dipu Moni on Sunday said assault on a college principal allegedly by Awami League lawmaker from Rajshahi-1 constituency Omar Faruk Chowdhury has embarrassed her much.
The minister said this while replying to a question from journalists at the secretariat after the announcement of the new schedule for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations.
“We don’t have the authority to take action against a parliament member. But we may go the parliament speaker, if needed after getting the probe report over the incident,” she said.
Also read: Rajshahi MP, college principal trash media report on assault on teacher by MP
On July 7, MP Omar Faruk allegedly physically assaulted Principal of Rajabari Degree College Selim Reza, according to different media reports.
The next day, National University formed a three-member committee to investigate the incident.
However, on July 14, Omar Faruk Chowdhury and principal Selim Reza both trashed the media reports at a press conference held at the MP’s political office in presence of Abdul Awal Raju, principal of Matikata Degree College and others.
Selim Reza said Abdul Awal had called him to visit MP Faruk’s office where he found seven other principals and vice-principals of different colleges after reaching. “Later an altercation began among us over forming principal forum committee and other internal issues.”
“MP Omar Faruk had to intervene to stop us, nothing else happened that day,” he said.
Also read: SSC, equivalent exams to begin on September 15: Dipu Moni
MP Omar Faruk said a syndicate provided false information to create issues and different media presented distorted version the incident of clash among the college teachers. “I mainly called them to exchange Eid greetings but they locked into an argument and principal Selim and Abdul Awal attacked each other which I had to stop,” he added.
SSC, equivalent exams to begin on September 15: Dipu Moni
The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations which were postponed due to flood will begin on September 15, Education Minister Dipu Moni said on Sunday.
Dipu Moni revealed this information at a press briefing at the Secretariat.
“We wanted to begin the examinations in mid-August, but we have decided to defer the exams to September as there is a possibility another spell of flood in the country in August,” she said.
The examinations will be held in a short time, said Dipu.
Talking about the flood situation in Sylhet, the minister said, “Still there are some problems in some educational institutions in Sylhet and we will be able to provide textbooks to the students of the flood-hit districts by July 24.”
A total of 683 sets of textbooks will be distributed in Sylhet while 10,586 books in Sunamganj, she said.
Referring to Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and its equivalent examinations, the minister said the HSC examinations will begin in November.
“We will be able to begin the SSC exams from February in 2023,” she hoped.
The SSC and its equivalent examinations under all the education boards scheduled to begin on June 19 were postponed due to the flood situation in the country on June 17.
Earlier, it was deferred for about four months because of the coronavirus pandemic. Usually, the SSC exams take place in February.
Read: SSC exam postponed for worsening flood
On July 6, Dipu Moni said the students of the flood-hit areas who lost their textbooks will be given new books.
Once the distribution of books is completed, the students need a little time to prepare themselves for the exams, she added.
The government will hold the postponed SSC exams only after handing over textbooks to flood victim students, the minister added.
Dipu Moni contracts Covid-19 again
Education Minister Dipu Moni has tested positive for Covid-19 for the second time.The minister underwent an RT-PCR test on Saturday morning which came out positive, said Public Relations Officer of the Ministry Mohammad Abul Khayer.“Now she is in isolation at her official residence,” he said.Dipu Moni was infected by Covid for the first time in late 2020.Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases, Bangladesh reported 304 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours until early Saturday, pushing the country's infection tally to 1,955,731.Read: Education Minister Dipu Moni tests positive for Covid-19
The country's total fatalities, however, remained unchanged at 29,131 as no death was reported during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).The daily test positivity rate slightly declined to 5.94 per cent from Friday’s 6.27 per cent with 5,122 samples tested during the period.The country reported its first zero Covid death in a single day on November 20 last year, along with 178 cases, since the pandemic broke out here in March 2020.
Population Census gives right picture of country: Dipu
Population census plays an important role in the country’s development planning providing a right picture of the realities, said Education Minister Dipu Moni on Wednesday.
“Through the population census, the accurate rate of education will be known and we will be able to get a true picture of the country,” she said while inaugurating the 6th population and housing census from her Chandpur residence on Wednesday.
Read: Don't react to provocations on social media: Dipu Moni
The 6th digital population and housing census in Bangladesh began on Wednesday across the country.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has launched the population census past midnight Tuesday.
How many people remain illiterate, how many people are educated and their financial-social status will be known from the census, which will help to make plans for different activities, she said.
This is the first time in Bangladesh that the government has conducted the population census digitally.
Earlier on Tuesday, State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam said around 3.70 lakh enumerators will collect the data countrywide from June 15 to 21, for planned development of the country.
Read: More institutions to come under MPO: Dipu Moni
The BBS has completed a trial of information collection process for the enumerators in several phases and constructed a census area for each 100 households.
The main objectives of census population and housing are- calculating the total population by counting the members of each house and families, determining the number of houses / dwellings in the country; collection of data for adoption of overall development plan, Provide information for determining constituencies in local and national elections; and provide information aimed at ensuring equitable distribution of national resources, said BBS.
The first population census in Bangladesh was conducted in 1974. Subsequently, the population and housing censuses were held again in 1981, 1991, 2001, and 2011.
Working to improve universities' world ranking position, says Dipu Moni
Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni on Friday said that different factors are considered to rank universities worldwide.
“There are some issues with the world ranking in education that we don’t understand. So, we are giving emphasis to improving the position of the country's universities in the world rankings," she said.
Read: Vested quarter trying to create communal problems at educational institutions: Dipu Moni
The minister said these while responding to reporters before joining a program to distribute agricultural incentives among farmers at the Chandpur Sadar Upazila Parishad auditorium on Friday afternoon.
Dipu Moni said that the quality of our education is not bad compared with other countries in terms of higher education. The quality of education in our universities is much better, but there is room for improvement.
Citing the example of BUET in the world rankings, the education minister said that BUET has come a long way in ranking. Besides, various universities including Dhaka University and Khulna University are performing extraordinarily. Many of our universities are doing world-class research. However, they need to pay more attention, Moni added.
“We didn't pay much attention to ranking before. Now the universities are paying attention. Our universities will do much better in the world rankings," she hopes.
Read: New Market reopens in full swing
Later, she inaugurated the distribution of paddy seeds and fertilizers among 1,200 small and marginal farmers at Chandpur Sadar Upazila auditorium.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (overall) Imtiaz Hossain, Additional Superintendent of Police Sudipta Roy, Sadar Upazila Parishad Chairman Nurul Islam Nazim Dewan, Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sanjida Shahnaz and other officials were present on the occasion.
Next year SSC in Apr, HSC in June: Dipu Moni
SSC and HSC exams in 2023 will be held in April and June, respectively, based on a shortened syllabus just like this academic session, Education Minister Dipu Moni said on Tuesday.
"SSC and equivalent exams in 2023 will be held following the 2022 academic session's syllabus. Similarly, HSC and equivalent exams of 2023 will be held according to the syllabus fixed on 180 working days," she told reporters at the secretariat.
Also read: SSC exams likely from June 19, HSC from Aug 22
The education minister said that the exams will encompass all subjects and evaluated on full marks.
This year’s SSC and HSC exams are slated to begin from June 19 and August 22, respectively, with a shortened syllabus.
According to the government's academic calendar, SSC exams are held from February 1 and HSC from April 1 every year. However, these exams were not held on time in the past two years due to Covid-19.
However, the decision on holding JSC exams this year is yet to be taken, said Dipu.
She said,” It will take a month and a half more to take a decision in this regard as we will need to asses many logistics.”
She said it seems tough to hold JSC and equivalent exams until now as boards will remain busy in publishing results for this year‘s SSC, HSC exams to be held on June, August this year.
Dipu further said the annual exams will be held at schools and student will need to prepare for that. For last two years JSC exams were not held. JSC exams stand abolished from next year.
Also read: SSC, HSC exams in June-August, syllabuses re-revised
The SSC examinees of 2023 will be able to participate in a total of 162 days of class activities, including lessons of class nine and ten if class activities continue till December this year. Normally they would have had 316 days of class activities to participate in, she said.
However, they have attended online classes, submitted assignments following revised syllabus for examinees of 2022 based on class activities of 15 days and so their examinations will be taken following it, said the minister.
Meanwhile, HSC and equivalent examinees of 2023 could not attend physical classes for 8 months so their examination will be held based on syllabus fixed for 2022 based on 180 days of class activity, she added.
Dovetailing higher and technical education needed: Dipu Moni
Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni on Tuesday pitched for the harmonisation of higher education and vocational training as National Parliament passed a bill for establishing a new science and technology university in Pirojpur.
Urging people to shed the misconception that vocational training is only for the "less intelligent" and those from the marginal families, she outlined her Ministry's efforts in working towards the development of technical institutes in the country.
"The Education Ministry is working towards establishing technical education colleges, vocational institutes and science and technology universities in important cities and districts to impart soft skills and technical knowledge on the youth," she said.
Also read: Parliament passes bill to set up science & tech university in Pirojpur
Dipu Moni introduced the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University Pirojpur
Bill, 2022, in Parliament and it was passed with a voice vote.
She also told the Parliament that vice-chancellors of public universities are appointed based on three criteria -- academic excellence, contribution in research, and leadership experience in teachers’ associations and administrative post-holding experience.
“Though we want highly qualified people in the vice-chancellor's post in universities, many refuse to hold the position considering the administrative burden,” she said. "Despite objections against the activities of some VCs of public universities, almost all are doing their duties properly."
Also read: Be ready to fight if enemy attacks peace-loving Bangladesh, PM urges armed forces
Earlier in the day, the Parliament session began with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair. After the bill was passed, the session was postponed till Wednesday 11am.
Focus on technical education to reduce unemployment: Dipu Moni
Munshiganj, Mar 25 (UNB)--Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni urged administrators to focus on technical education, to reduce the unemployment rate of Bangladesh.
Countries that have paid more attention to technical and science education have become more developed and prosperous, she said, while addressing a proramme at the A Mannan Pilot High School in Char Dewan in Gazaria Bhat, Munshiganj on Friday.
In developed countries like Germany, 50 percent of the students are educated in technical stream, she said.
“I kindly requested the authorities of the higher educational institutions to set up the curriculum in line with the demands of the present world," the minister added.
Read: Power Division hands over Independence Award to PM
The government is going to implement the new curriculum from 2023. Even if the government can change the curriculum at secondary and higher secondary levels, higher educational institutions can only change their curriculum with university laws.
Dipu Moni said the government has taken initiative to ensure practical education at secondary and higher secondary levels.
Now, it's time to think about the university's curriculum.
"We want the universities to think about their curriculum. Let them create industry academy linkages and adjust their curriculum to suit the needs of the working world so that our students can make them fit for the job market from the very first, she added.
Read: Holiday makers suffer as traffic piles up at Paturia Ghat
Regarding the provision of modular education, the Minister said, "Everyone does not need to have a big degree. Students can learn many things through a diploma or certificate courses.
She said, "There is a big trend in our country to gain an honors-master’s degree."
Moreover, they can do post-graduate diplomas in various subjects that will provide employment opportunities at home and abroad.
A quarter out to tarnish govt's image by raising prices: Dipu Moni
A vested quarter is trying to tarnish the government’s image by raising prices of essential commodities, Education Minister Dipu Moni said Friday.
The education minister was talking to journalists after inaugurating a 4-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the 250 bed Chandpur General Hospital.
She said the government is trying their best to keep the prices within the purchasing capacity of the people but some dishonest people are trying to foil them.
“There are ministries and agencies of the government to keep an eye on price hikes and through them the situation will remain under control,” said Dipu Moni.
Read: Not chanting 'Joy Bangla' means underming independence : PM
Replying to another question, Dipu Moni said, “A national policy is being formulated so that educational institutes can operate classes both online and offline during the Covid-19 pandemic situation.”
“We will be able to hand it to the Prime Minister this month,” she said.
Chandpur Additional Deputy Commissioner Imtiaz Hossain, Supervisor of Chandpur General Hospital AKM Mahbubur Rahman, Superintendent of Chanpur police Milon Mehmud and others were present at the programme.