Educational institutions in Bangladesh reopen after a month of closure
Dhaka (PTI): Bangladesh on Sunday reopened all educational institutions, including universities, secondary schools and colleges, across the country after more than a month of closure due to violence centring the student-led protests that led to the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The educational institutions in Bangladesh were closed indefinitely on July 17 to ensure the safety of students in the wake of clashes that erupted during the recent movement demanding reform of the job quota system.
The Ministry of Education on Thursday issued a directive to reopen the institutions under its jurisdiction. All the educational institutions reopened on Sunday, after a month of closure.
According to Somoy Television, a Bengali news channel based in Dhaka, “All concerned have been asked to take necessary steps to resume academic activities in all the educational institutions from August 18 following the instruction of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus,” a notification signed by deputy secretary Mosammat Rahima Akhtar, said on August 15.
In the morning, school students in uniform were seen going to their institutions, many accompanied by guardians, the Daily Star reported.
Many points of Dhaka city are witnessing severe traffic congestion due to the reopening of educational institutions.
The working week is from Sunday to Thursday in Bangladesh.
Initially, classes were scheduled to resume on August 4 in all government primary schools, except in the 12 city corporations and Narsingdi municipality, but this was also postponed.
Meanwhile, the postponed Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations will be resumed from September 11.
According to the revised routine, the exams will be completed on October 23.
Classes at public universities have been suspended since July 1 when teachers went on strike in protest of a new pension scheme.
After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, the educational institutions were declared open on August 7, but the academic activities could not be resumed fully due to the low attendance of students.
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Bhopal gas tragedy: Effects of leak seen in next generation of survivors, says ex-forensic doctor
Bhopal (PTI): The effects of poisonous gases that leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal 40 years ago were seen in the next generations of those who survived the tragedy, a former government forensic doctor has said.
At least 3,787 people were killed, and more than five lakh were affected after a toxic gas leaked from the pesticide factory in the city on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984.
Speaking at an event held by organisations of gas tragedy survivors on Saturday, Dr D K Satpathy, former head of the forensics department of Bhopal's Gandhi Medical College, said he performed 875 post-mortems on the first day of the disaster and witnessed 18,000 autopsies the next five years.
Sathpathy claimed Union Carbide had denied questions about the effects of poisonous gases on unborn children of women survivors and said effects would not cross the placental barrier in the womb in any condition.
He said blood samples of pregnant women who died in the tragedy were examined, and it was found that 50 per cent of poisonous substances found in the mother were also found in the child in her womb.
Children born to surviving mothers had the poisonous substances in their system, and this affected the health of the next generation, Sathpathy claimed and questioned why research on this was stopped.
Such effects will continue for generations, he said.
Satpathy said it was said that MIC gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant, and when it came in contact with water, thousands of gases were formed, and some of these caused cancer, blood pressure and liver damage.
Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said Satpathy, who carried out most autopsies, and other first responders in the 1984 disaster, including the senior doctors in the emergency ward and persons involved in mass burials, narrated their experiences during the event.
Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, a poster exhibition covering every aspect of the disaster will be held till December 4 to mark the 40th anniversary of the tragedy.
An anniversary rally will be organised, with focus on global corporate crimes such as industrial pollution and climate change, she said.
