Polytechnic, Technical Institutions: Livestreamed classes begin today

Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) is set to begin holding classes of polytechnic institutes through Facebook live, to minimise academic loss of students as those are closed due to coronavirus pandemic.

Live classes for diploma-in-engineering courses of public and private polytechnic institutes, technical school and colleges, will begin at 8am today, DTE Director (planning and development) Jahangir Alam told The Daily Star yesterday.

"Many students are now out of education due to coronavirus situation and they will fall behind. So, we are starting the online classes," he said.

The Facebook live classes will be available on pages like skills.gov.bd/dte and www.facebook.com/skills.gov.bd, he added.

A total of 3.25 lakh students are enrolled in 50 government and 553 private polytechnic institutes, and 64 technical school and colleges.

Classes of all 34 technologies for first year and five coveted technologies for second and third years students will be held via Facebook live, Jahangir said.

Five technologies -- civil, mechanical, computer, electrical and electronic -- have covered at least 80 percent of students.

Fifty teachers of polytechnic in eight divisional cities will deliver lecture by rotation and they have already prepared their speech, with the assistance from a2i project of the government.

"We have already sent information and class routine to all polytechnic institutes, technical school and colleges so that students can follow the classes," Jahangir said.

Earlier DTE introduced televised classroom lectures for about some 3.80 lakh SSC (vocational) and Dakhil (vocational) students at some 3,000 institutions, through Sangsad Bangladesh Television since April 19.

The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education on March 29 started TV education through Sangsad TV for secondary students, Directorate of Primary Education started TV class on the same channel on April 7 for primary students and Directorate of Madrassa Education began televised classes on April 19.

All educational institutions have been closed since March 17, and the government has now extended the closure till May 30, in a bid to stem further spread of Covid-19.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on April 27 said all educational institutions may remain closed till September if the coronavirus situation does not improve.

Academic activities of about four crore students are being hampered due to coronavirus crisis. Publishing of SSC examination results and holding of HSC exams have been deferred for an indefinite period. First-term exams of primary schools also been cancelled for the crisis.

Public universities and colleges under National University are in fear of session jam. Many private universities cannot complete their ongoing semester and that would delay their next semester.