Confusion over school closure in Ramadan

With Ramadan beginning today, confusion remains among the students, parents and teachers over whether the schools will be shut during the fasting month as the authorities are yet to make a final decision in this regard.

About four crore students are studying at around one lakh primary and 22,000 secondary schools across the country.

The Supreme Court will hold a hearing today on a petition filed by the state challenging Sunday's High Court order that closed primary and secondary schools for the entire month of Ramadan.

The HC order came following a writ petition filed by a parent against the government's decision to keep primary and secondary schools open for the first 10 and 15 days of Ramadan respectively.

The SC, however, upheld the HC order for the time being during a hearing on the petition yesterday.

Justice M Enayetur Rahim, chamber judge of the Appellate Division of the SC, passed the order and sent the petition to its full bench for a hearing on the matter at 11:30am today.

"The lack of clarity over the school closure has put us in a spot of bother. We need to plan on our work beforehand if the schools remain open," said Anika Rahman, a mother of two children.

The authorities should take a decision in this regard at the earliest, said Farhana Ahmed, mother of a student.

"We are receiving many calls from the guardians about the closure of the institution -- we are also confused about whether classes will be held in Ramadan," said Sadeka Begum, principal of Ispahani Girls' School and College in Dhaka's Moghbazar.

The ministry is yet to take a decision on keeping the schools shut, said MA Khair, public relations officer of the education ministry,

The HC order for the closure of schools will remain in force following the SC chamber judge's order, AKM Faiz, the lawyer who represented the writ petitioner, told The Daily Star yesterday.

However, Deputy Attorney General Sk Shaifuzzaman said as the government authorities concerned are yet to receive the certified copy of the HC order, there is no bar to keeping the schools open today.

During the hearing yesterday, Justice Rahim questioned what will happen if the schools remain closed for 10 to 15 days during Ramadan.

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told the court that keeping schools open during Ramadan is a policy decision of the government.

The HC cannot interfere with the decision, he said, adding that academic activities will be hampered if the schools are kept closed during the entire month of Ramadan.

Opposing the state's petition, Faiz argued that if the schools were kept open during the holy month, traffic congestion would get worse and the fasting students and their parents would have to endure suffering.