Bangladesh’s education minister Friday announced that academic activities across the country will resume with the physical attendance of students at education institutions from Sept. 12.

-All primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels of educational institutes will be simultaneously reopened from Sept. 12- Dipu Moni said, addressing a public function at her constituency in the southern district of Chandpur.

The Bangladeshi government closed all educational institutions across the country on March 17 last year due to the pandemic.

Since then, authorities announced several deadlines for resumption of normal academic functions but backtracked, citing a surge in infections and safety of students.

Referring to the direction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Moni added that they were always careful about not disrupting students’ education. “But at the same time, we must take care of the health of our students with utmost priority.”

She said the infection rate during the pandemic was gradually declining and a massive vaccination drive was underway.

Earlier, on Thursday, the National Technical Advisory Committee on COVID-19 in Bangladesh recommended reopening countrywide educational institutions after improvement in the pandemic situation and steps taken to ensure vaccines for all.

Later the same day, Hasina told the country's National Parliament that the government had already taken steps to reopen schools and colleges soon.

Universities across the country are also set to reopen and resume in-person classes from Oct. 15 on condition of completing vaccination to all students and teachers, University Grants Commission Secretary Ferdous Zaman told Anadolu Agency.

The South Asian delta nation has so far recorded over 1.5 million COVID-19 infections, including 26,432 deaths and more than 1.3 million recoveries.

Bangladesh has also administered more than 27 million vaccine shots to date.