United News of Bangladesh

Former Awami League ministers Dr Dipu Moni, Sadhan Chandra Majumdar, Qamrul Islam and three others were on Tuesday shown arrested in three murder cases involving the July uprising in Gazipur. Judge of the Gazipur Metropolitan Magistrate Court Omar Haider passed the order to show them arrested in the cases, said advocate Shahiduzzaman, president of Jatiyatabadi Lawyers’ Forum in Gazipur chapter. The rest of the accused include former state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, former army official Ziaul Ahsan and Bangladesh Bank official Nazrul Islam. Earlier in the morning, the accused were produced before the court from Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur and Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj. Shomi Kaiser, Dipu Moni among 10 shown arrested in fresh cases Seeing the accused on the court premises, BNP like-minded lawyers staged demonstrations seeking justice for the July uprising martyred. The protesters also threw eggs targeting the accused and chanted slogans against the Awami League and the party’s President Sheikh Hasina, who fled the country on August 5 in the face of the student-led mass uprising that ousted the then ruling party.

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations for 2023 will begin in Bangladesh on Sunday (April 30, 2023). According to the Ministry of Education, a total of 20,72,163 candidates are likely to sit for this year’s SSC and equivalent exams. Also Read: No one except candidates to be allowed within 200 yards of SSC exam halls: DMP In order to ensure a fair and peaceful environment no one except the candidates will be allowed within 200 yards of the examination halls during the examinations, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said in a press release on April 27. Meanwhile, all coaching centres in the country will remain closed from April 26 to May 23 for holding the examinations smoothly, said Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni on Tuesday. Dipu Moni said that the examinations will be held on a short syllabus this year. Read More: 2023 SSC, equivalent exams from April 30

The constitutions of Bangladesh and India have largely contributed to world politics and jurisprudence, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami says. India has emerged from 200 years of experience, and the independence of the judiciary was one of the critical parts of its history, the envoy said. "The constitution demands interpretation in the light of the spirit of the constitution-makers," Doraiswami said. He suggested that the provisions of the constitution should be made understandable to everyone as the young people should understand why there is a constitution and how it matters to them. To understand the goals and purpose of the constitution one has to read its preamble, Doraiswami added.

Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni on Wednesday said Bangladesh has been learning a lot from its biggest development partner, China, in poverty alleviation. “Both Bangladesh and China are among the most populous countries in the world and poverty alleviation is very important for both states,” she said while addressing a webinar as the chief guest. At the same time, Dipu Moni said, other countries are learning from Bangladesh a lot on how it has progressed tremendously under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Referring to the deep-rooted ties between the two nations, the minister said people normally talk about the 46 years of diplomatic relationship between Bangladesh and China. “But, I believe, the friendship between the two countries goes at least 2,000 years back. She appreciated Chinese outstanding contribution towards Bangladesh’s socio-economic and education sectors, and urged the Asian giant to strengthen it in the days to come. Underlining the observations of some speakers, Moni said that for creating more skilled and time-befitting human resources Bangladesh is putting emphasis on technical and vocational education and training. The webinar titled “Poverty Eradication: Experiences from Bangladesh and China” was held on the occasion of declaration of a 25-member and two-year-long executive committee of the Association of Bangladesh-China Alumni (ABCA). Dipu Moni welcomed the newly-announced executive committee of the ABCA with Ambassador Munshi Faiz Ahmad as President of the association and Professor Dr Shahabul Haque as general secretary.

The government has again extended the closure of secondary and higher secondary-level educational institutions until August 31 due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country. The decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers and staffers in consultation with the National Advisory Committee on Covid-19, said an official release signed by MA Khair, public relations officer of the Education Ministry on Thursday. Earlier, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said the government had decided to reopen educational institutions, particularly the primary, secondary and higher secondary ones, in Bangladesh on June 13 if the Covid-19 situation does not deteriorate. Later, the government announced the extension of closure of schools and colleges till July 31, and the Education Ministry issued a notice in this regard. The government shut educational institutions on March 17 last year after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases on March 8. Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh lowers vaccination age to 25 The closure was extended several times after that. On February 22, the education minister announced that university classes would resume on May 24. Residential halls were also scheduled to be reopened on May 17. But that did not happen due to the worsening pandemic. Covid situation in Bangladesh As the Delta variant of Covid-19 engulfed the country, Bangladesh recorded 239 more deaths caused by the virus in 24 hours till Thursday morning. Besides, 15,271 new people came out Covid positive during the period after the test of 52,282 samples, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The fresh cases took the country’s Covid death tally to 20,255 today while the caseload to 1,226,253. Read: Covid in Bangladesh: Daily toll remains above 200; 15,271 more infected The country has been seeing nearly 200 deaths a day for the past two weeks, shattering the records of daily cases and deaths almost every other day. Meanwhile, the daily test-positivity rate declined slightly to 29.21% from Wednesday's 30.12% while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate. However, the case fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.65 % during the period, said the DGHS.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Tuesday decided to vaccinate university students as soon as possible so that their dormitories could be reopened. The decision was taken at a virtual meeting chaired by Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni. The vice-chancellors of public universities and officials of the Education Ministry and UGC took part in the meeting. As per the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, all the university students would be vaccinated on priority basis starting with residential ones. Also read: Bangladesh sees rise in Covid infections; 41 more die The meeting decided to permit all the public and private universities to conduct online and direct examinations at their respective university campuses. The academic councils of the respective universities would take the final decisions regarding the online and direct examinations following the UGC instructions. Also read: Take exams but don’t reopen halls: UGC Dorms will be reopened making it sure that all the students are vaccinated and the academic activities of the universities are run regularly, said a UGC media release. The universities were asked to prepare a Recovery Plan according to their capacity and the social reality so that the damage caused to the students during the pandemic could be minimised, the release added.

A recent upward trend in daily coronavirus infection rate could force the government to keep educational institutions shut longer than expected.

The overwhelming majority of some 164,009 underprivileged and meritorious students who have received stipends, tuition fees, admission fees and medical grants from the PM’s Education Assistance Trust used their bKash accounts.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said the government is committed to sustaining Bangladesh’s recognition as a developing country through the expansion of education and building skilled workforce and worthy citizens.

Classes in all primary, secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions will resume on March 30.