Bangladesh reopens schools after 18 months of shutdown
Students at one school in Dhaka were welcomed with flowers and sweets, and told to wear masks and sanitise their hands. Some hugged each other in excitement
Children in Bangladesh flooded back into classrooms on Sunday as schools reopened ater 18 months, one of the world’s longest coronavirus shutdowns.
The resumption came ater Unicef warned that prolonged school closures during the COVID-19 crisis were worsening inequities for millions of children across South Asia.
In the capital Dhaka, students at one school were welcomed with flowers and sweets, and told to wear masks and sanitise their hands. Some hugged each other in excitement.
“We are really excited to be back at school,” 15-year-old Muntasir Ahmed said as he entered the campus.
“I am hoping to physically see all of my friends and teachers, not through a laptop window today.”
At the gate, school officials checked the body temperatures of students before allowing them to enter.
The school’s vice principal, Dewan Tamziduzzaman, said he “didn’t expect such a big number to be turning up on the first day”.
Only 41 per cent of Bangladesh’s 169 million population have smartphones, according to the country’s telecom operators’ association, which means millions of children cannot access online classes.
Even with smartphones, students in many of Bangladesh’s rural districts do not have the highspeed internet access usually required for e-learning.
Unicef warned in a report released on Thursday that the pandemic has accentuated “alarming inequities” for more than 430 million children in the region.
“School closures in South Asia have forced hundreds of millions of children and their teachers to transition to remote learning in a region with low connectivity and device affordability,” Unicef’s regional director, George Laryea-adjei, said in a statement.
“As a result, children have suffered enormous setbacks in their learning journey.”
Meanwhile, a high-profile cartoonist and a Sweden-based journalist were among seven men charged on Sunday under Bangladesh’s internet law that critics say is being used against opposition figures.
A court in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka accepted formal charges laid out by police under the Digital Security Act against cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore and rights activist and journalist Tasneem Khalil, prosecutor Nazrul Islam Shamim said.
The men were charged with publishing offensive and false information, defamation and intentionally publishing digital content that creates unrest or disorder.
They face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. “The court has also issued warrants of arrest against four of them who have been absconding,” Shamim said.
Rights groups including Amnesty International say the law is being used to silence and intimidate critics of the government in the country of 169 million people.
Kishore, 45, said he was a “victim of injustice.” “Drawing cartoons isn’t a crime,” he said via a phone call ater the charges were announced.
Following street protests, Kishore was granted bail in March ater he was detained in May last year on preliminary charges under the internet law.
Kishore said he was tortured before police detained him.
He filed a petition with a Dhaka court over the torture allegations, which police have denied. There has been no decision on the petition so far.
Kishore said his alleged torturers had asked questions about cartoons he drew mocking a powerful businessman close to the government as well as a series criticising the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Shamim did not detail the specific acts allegedly commited by the cartoonist.
Amnesty said in a July report that Bangladesh had at least 433 people detained under the internet law as of that month.
Most were being held on allegations of publishing false and offensive information online, the global rights group added.
Separately, a city in southern China that is trying to contain a coronavirus outbreak told the public on Sunday not to leave town, suspended bus and train service and closed cinemas, bars and other facilities.