Writ petition seeks suspension of in-person classes

A Supreme Court lawyer today filed an application with the High Court seeking its directive on the government to immediately close physical functions of all schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions across the country for 30 days in order to contain the ongoing Covid-19 surge.

Md Eunus Ali Akond submitted the application as a supplementary writ petition.

The petition was filed in March 2020, on which the HC had directed for keeping people coming from abroad in two weeks' mandatory quarantine.

In the application, the petitioner requested the HC to ask the secretaries at the ministries of education and health to take necessary steps to run virtual activities of educational institutions during this 30-day period.

The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice SM Maniruzzaman will hold a hearing on the application tomorrow, Akond told The Daily Star.

Citing the application, he said the students and their family members are being infected with Covid-19 as they are attending in-person classes amid the pandemic.

In this situation, the educational institutions should suspend physical classes, he said.