& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Frequent hartals disrupt academic calendars

MUSTAK HOSSAIN
Frequent hartals would upset the academic calendars of all educational institutions, apprehend teachers, students and their guardians alike.
In the face of the current volatile political situation, many schools in the capital have shifted their weekly holiday from Friday to Sunday, as strikes are often imposed on weekdays.
The English medium schools are also considering reducing the weekend from the current two days to one.
The authorities of certain elementary schools at Mohammadpur, Dhanmandi and Lalmatia in the city even received bomb threats as they tried to run schools on hartal days.
The main opposition Awami League, its allies and front organisations have already enforced 10 spells of hartals in the current academic year. And more strikes are likely in the coming weeks, predict political observers.
There are only 228 workdays at the government schools, as there are
SEE PAGE 11 COL 5 FROM PAGE 1
85 government-designated holidays and 52 weekly ones, while private English medium schools have even less -- about 176 workdays due to their two-day weekends.
Due to strikes many universities and colleges have been forced to reschedule their admission tests several times worsening the already acute session jams eating up years of university students.
A student of the Arts or Social Science faculty of Dhaka University has to spend as many as seven years to complete a four-year undergraduate course, reports the National Education Commission. It requires five years to complete a three-year course under the Science faculty of the same university, the report says.
"There is no doubt the strikes would lengthen the session jams by several months," says a university teacher.
"How long will this situation continue?" asks a guardian concerned about his ward's loss of academic time.
However, the education ministry has asked schools and colleges to strictly follow their academic calendars, despite hartals.
In a handout on Tuesday, the ministry asked the heads of educational institutions to maintain proper record of attendance ahead of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations slated to start from March 10.