DU provost committee recommends opening dorms for final-semester students by first week of March

After a year of closure due to the coronavirus outbreak, the provost committee of Dhaka University (DU) has finally recommended opening residential halls by the first week of March for its final-year and last-semester examinees at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The preliminary move for opening dormitories came immediately after the Ministry of Education issued a notice for schools and colleges to be prepared for reopening at any time from February 4.

The committee comprising all 18 hall provosts, pro vice-chancellors and with VC Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman in chair, recommended the university authority in this regard.

Confirming the matter, DU Proctor Prof AKM Golam Rabbani said that the recommendation to open by the first week of March may be placed before the Academic Council of the university which is scheduled to be held on January 31.

"Since the provosts recommended it, hopefully this will be passed in any decision-making body of the university which will be determined by the VC," Rabbani, also the member secretary of the committee, told UNB.

Those who were staying at the halls legally before the closure, and were last year or final semester students in honours and masters classes can only get inside the halls after opening based on priority given to their last academic exams, Rabbani said.