In light of rising concerns over the Covid-19 outbreak, public universities had earlier shut down in-person classes. But most of them are yet to offer students alternative online education.

Top administrative officials gave several reasons for not introducing online education -- including a lack of facilities at the institutions and uneven internet access for all students, many of whom are now in their village homes.

Academics warned that if the shutdown of universities is prolonged, there is a strong possibility that session jams will increase significantly.

However, at several universities, faculty members on their own or with support from the university authorities have started online classes. Almost all teachers of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), for example, are taking online classes. 

Once normalcy returns, university authorities say, they will take extra classes, curtail summer vacation and public holidays, to make up students' losses.

University Grants Commission Chairman Prof Kazi Shahidullah said it is understood that public universities cannot introduce online education as not all students have access to the internet or the devices to connect to it.

"All of them [students] don't have a laptop, desktop, or a smartphone. So, not everybody can be covered."

UNIVERSITIES ILL-EQUIPPED

"We are not a digitised university. We do not even have email addresses of all students. Moreover, many of our students do not have internet access as they are now in their village homes," Dhaka University Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Muhammad Samad told The Daily Star.

"If we start it [online education], those who have no internet could feel left out," he added.

Pro-VC Samad said the DU is considering holding classes on public holidays and weekends once it reopens, and if possible it will shorten the summer vacation in June.

All the 46 public universities have been closed since March 24 and the government has now extended the closure till May 5, in a bid to stem the further spread of Covid-19.

"Our residential students are now far away from us and we cannot say whether they have internet access or not. Besides, our education is practical and laboratory-based -- we cannot give instruction online. This is a big hurdle," said Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) Registrar Prof SM Mahbubur Rahman.

The registrar of Comilla University, Abu Taher Bhuiyan, and registrar  (in-charge) of Islamic University, Kushtia, Abdul Latif, said their  universities were not equipped to take online classes.

"Most departments are not digitally equipped," said Abdul Latif.

LACK OF INTERNET CONNECTION, DEVICES

Educators said many students, especially those living in rural areas, lack the steady internet connection or the devices to be able to learn remotely.

Because of this, authorities of Chittagong University, Rajshahi University, and Jahangirnagar University said, they are not capable of taking online classes.

"Internet service is not available in many villages. If we go for online classes, most of the students will miss it due to no internet access," said CU VC Prof Shireen Akhter.Barisal University VC Prof Sadequl Arefin said they have no plan to start online classes. "Many of our students are from poor families, they do not have access to internet or laptops," he said.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics' Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2019 found only 37.6 percent of households in the country has access to the internet by any device from home. It also found only 5.6 percent of households have a computer or tablet.

Telecom insiders said there is 30 percent smartphone penetration in Bangladesh. There are a total 10 crore SIM cards -- of these, around four crore are unique users.

EXCEPTION, NOT THE RULE

So far, of the public universities, only SUST in Sylhet has started online classes through the Zoom app, in the last week of March.

"We eliminated academic session jam after years of hard work and don't want to fall in the problem again," said VC Prof Farid Uddin Ahmed.

At the beginning, around half the teachers started taking online classes, but this number increased day by day. The VC hopes that in a few more days, all teachers will start taking online classes.

"Till regular life resumes, this online class method will help us face this situation and continue academic activities."

While at first, many students complained about problems with access, no one is raising the issue any more, he added.

[Our correspondents in Sylhet, Cumilla, Kushtia, Barishal, Jahangirnagar University, and Rajshahi University, have contributed to this report]