All primary and secondary schools and madrasas across the country will enjoy holidays during the Ramadan, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told a cabinet meeting yesterday.
Earlier, she turned down the education minister's request to keep the institutions open for the first 10 days of Ramadan, meeting sources said.
Hasina suggested that the ministries concerned make an adjustment of the 10 days to the yearly summer vacation in all educational institutions.
The cabinet also approved the draft of Bangladesh Coast Guard Act-2014 with a provision of capital punishment for mutiny offences.
The proposed law has been approved to make the Coast Guard a disciplined, skilled and effective force, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters after the meeting.
The law has outlined steps for various mutiny-related offences, trial procedures, formation of court martial and provision for appeal, among others, he said.
The previous law, formulated in 1994, was incomplete as there was no specific directive about discipline among Coast Guard members, Musharraf said.
While drafting the new law, assistance has been taken from the newly-formulated Border Guard Bangladesh Act, the Navy, and Ministry of Public Administration.
The cabinet also directed the authorities concerned to review the draft and make necessary suggestions before sending it to the law ministry for vetting, he said.
The cabinet meeting fixed the office hours during Ramadan for government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous organisations from 9:00am to 3:30pm, with a 15-minute break from 1:15pm for Johr prayers.
The Supreme Court, banks, insurances and financial institutes, railway, post offices, hospitals and other emergency service-providing organisations will fix their time schedule according to their regulations.
The cabinet also approved a proposal for the signing of two agreements with Cambodia during Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's ongoing visit to Dhaka.