No decision on educational institutes’ closure taken yet

The ministry of education on Tuesday issued a notice declaring that no decision had been made yet regarding the closure of educational institutes across the country.

The ministry issued the notice following a rumour saying the government has shut all educational institutes across the country due to coronavirus outbreak.

Mentioning that a vested group has been spreading this rumour through social media, the authorities urged country people not to be confused and not to pay to heed such fake news.

The notice, issued by Mohammad Abul Khair, Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, said that the ministry has been maintaining constant close communication with the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research IEDCR.

The decision of closing all school-colleges across the country amid coronavirus situation will be taken on the basis of experts’ opinion, the notice also said.

In another development, country’s one of the leading English language newspaper reported that some people are spreading rumours of educational institutes’ closure on social media using a screenshot of a report published in 2018.

The story, titled "Schools, colleges shut tomorrow: Ministry" was published on August 1, 2018 as part of our reporting on the road safety movement at the time, reports the Daily Star on its online version.

Meanwhile, The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) on Tuesday directed all offices and educational institutes to remain cautious to tackle the current situation by taking preventive measures to check further spread of the coronavirus.

The notice has also directed to follow the instructions of the IEDCR for prevention of the virus.