The government has taken two significant decisions to maintain the momentum of education amidst the ongoing crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict. From now on, classes in schools and colleges will be held online for three days a week, while the remaining three days will be conducted in person within the classrooms.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Education reached this decision during a joint meeting with the heads of various educational institutions in the capital on Tuesday (March 31). An official gazette notification regarding this is expected to be issued at any moment.

According to the decision, classes will be held six days a week. Students will attend physical classes (offline) for three days, and the other three days will be dedicated to internet-based (online) teaching. To manage the schedule, institutions have been advised to follow the odd-even date system or roll number-based rotations.

However, even on online class days, teachers must be physically present at their respective institutions to conduct the sessions from there. Practical classes, including science and other subjects, must be completed offline in the labs as per the directives.

The Ministry of Education stated that the decision to hold classes six days a week is aimed at recovering the learning gaps caused by long holidays. On the other hand, the three-day online model has been chosen to save electricity and reduce transportation costs amid the intensifying energy crisis. For now, this is being implemented on an experimental basis.

The government kept three alternative plans to manage the situation after the Eid holidays:
1. Full-scale online classes if the crisis intensifies.
2. A hybrid model (both offline and online).
3. Distributing the days of the week through an integrated routine.

Professor B.M. Hannan, Director General of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), informed that the decision to run the curriculum using the hybrid method was finalized in the meeting chaired by the Education Minister.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, Education Minister Ehsanul Haque Milan also told reporters at the Secretariat that the government is considering integrating both online and offline platforms to tackle the energy crisis.