At the British Council, the health and safety of all our visitors, staff and the communities in which we operate is our top priority. We support and cooperate with all local government agencies to put all necessary measures in place to ensure the continued well-being of all with whom we engage in the course of our operations. This post is to keep UK institutions updated on key South Asian markets amidst the Covid-19 outbreak.

For travel advice, please refer to FCO updates, and we would encourage institutions who are considering travelling to sign up for alerts - https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice. We also strongly encourage visiting local government health websites to stay abreast of the prevailing health advisory and precautionary measures in any country. For IELTS test arrangements as a result of Novel Coronavirus precautions, please see  https://www.ielts.org/news/2020/changes-to-ielts-test-arrangements-in-some-locations-due-to-novel-coronavirus. Though it's important to note the IELTS indicator has now been launched and regular IELTS testing has begun in some markets. Click here for more details.  

We are monitoring the situation very closely and will continue to provide updates as the situation develops. For more South Asia updates, webinars, market insights and other services in international higher education, please continue to visit the IES website.

Bangladesh

To prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government of Bangladesh observed nationwide general holiday from 26 March 2020 to 30 May 2020. All international passenger flights have been suspended until 16 June 2020. Two carriers, i.e. Qatar Airways and Biman Bangladesh Airlines are resuming Dhaka London Dhaka flights from 16 June and 17 June respectively.

Education

• On 15 June 2020, another announcement from Ministry of Education has been made on the extension of the shutdown of schools and other educational institutions to August 6 amid the coronavirus pandemic. To combat the crisis and ensure that students are safe, all educational institutions have been closed since 17 March.
• The Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC)/equivalent examination was scheduled to start on 22 March but has been postponed until further notice. Under the current circumstances, the probable date to start the examination was 31 May but the exam did not take place. Over a million students are expected to sit for HSC and its equivalent exams, which are expected to be held at over 9,000 educational institutions under eight general, one madrasa, and one technical education boards.
• All examinations including paper-based and computer-delivered IELTS tests have been cancelled until 30 June 2020.
• The government is promoting online classes and accordingly many schools and colleges are trying to adopt this practice. For primary and secondary level students, the lessons are being telecast on the state-run Sangsad TV channel. The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education and Directorate of Primary Education have already started airing lessons for both secondary and primary level students of grade one to ten.
• EduHub portal has been developed by the Govt., where educational content for the Teachers, Students and Parents are available (pre-primary to 12 grade level). Here the British Council has been working as a partner organisation. Online English resources of the British Council for kids, teens and adult learners are available on EduHub which is an initiative of the Bangladesh Government during the Covid-19 pandemic. 
• On 23 March, the University Grants Commission (UGC) Bangladesh requested the universities to conduct online classes but barred examinations. The universities who already had the infrastructure were already conducting online classes, while others are still working to develop online platforms. Considering the context of Bangladesh, during the month of Ramadan, education institutions remained closed for the whole month and to avoid risk of spreading Covid 19 education institutions including local HEIs did not start its classes. 

India

While most parts of india have opened up and removed lockdowns, some cities and states continue to observe a shutdown of normal activities – such as Chennai and West Bengal. This is because in certain parts of the country number of cases continue to soar. Educational institutions remain closed across the country, but shops, restaurants, offices are opening in a phased manner.

Travel

Domestic flights have resumed in a phased manner from 25 May 2020. National carrier Air India and five private carriers have been operating repatriation flights to bring back Indian citizens stranded abroad.

Ministry for Civil Aviation has started discussion on resuming international flight in coming months which will depend on the pandemic situation. Virgin airlines have announced restarting flights to London from Delhi and Mumbai from September.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/virgin-atlantic-plans-restart-flights-london-delhi-mumbai-september-1691697-2020-06-23

Education:

• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) cancelled final board exams of classes 10 and 12 which were scheduled from 1 to 15 July 202. ISCE have also followed suit and have cancelled final boards for 10 and 12 standards. While CBSE have said they will allow class 12 students to opt for sitting the boards if they are unhappy with their school test scores, ICSE have not yet announced anything similar. Both boards will next announce how the marks for the missed exams will be determined.

https://www.ndtv.com/education/icse-board-exams-cancelled

• The UGC panel that was formed earlier this year to advise on conducting examinations has suggested final examinations due in July 2020 be cancelled. It also recommends deferring new session for old students to October 2020 which was to start in July as per previous guidelines.UGC to share further guidelines on exam cancellations soon.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2020/jun/24/ugc-panel-recommends-scrapping-exams-for-final-year-university-students-2160750.html

Pakistan:

The Pakistan government has decided to impose smart lockdown again in 20 identified cities. Lockdown will come into effect immediately in all the major cities. Initially planned for two-weeks, this lockdown will enforce closure of most business activities and restricted traffic in selected parts of a city.

Education

• Addressing the need to adapt to the post Covid-19 environment, Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has also announced drastic re-engineering of its operations and processes. This decision was announced by the Chairman HEC, Dr Tariq Banuri in an all-staff meeting. This step is being considered to cater to the new requirements and to ensure that education delivery in Pakistan can be made effective and transparent. The emphasis on making distant learning more efficient in days to come, underlines the earlier announcement of HEC to keep the universities closed till it is safer to reopen. There has not been any recent update on the reopening of the universities.
• Government of Pakistan announced the Federal Budget 2020-21 earlier this week. In the budget, the total budget allocation for Education Affairs and Services is PKR 83,363 million. Out of the total budget for Public Sector Development Program (PSDP), PKR 29,470 million have been allocation for Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.
• The National Coordination Committee (NCC) in light of the stark increase in coronavirus cases nationally, has instructed provincial governments to postpone exams and reopening of schools till the end of the pandemic. The exams of local intermediate and matriculation boards have been cancelled. The secondary and higher secondary students will be promoted based on their previous exam results. The students of grade 9 and 11, will be required to appear for a composite exam next year.
• Cambridge International has announced that it will proceed with its October/November examination session as planned. According to the reports, the new schedule highlights 01 October as the date of inception of this exam session. Considering the complete withdrawal of exam candidates from the cancelled June/July session, this upcoming session is expected to have much greater candidature. Some practical examination which are considered safer to conduct have been earmarked to begin from July onwards.
   

https://www.dawn.com/news/1563839

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/667485-hec-to-re-engineer-all-operations-and-processes

http://www.finance.gov.pk/budget/Budget_in_Brief_2020_21_English.pdf

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2221340/1-sindh-decides-cancel-matric-inter-examinations/

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2244015/1-cambridge-announces-schedule-o-level-exams/

Sri Lanka

The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 infections in Sri Lanka have been on a steady decline. The total number of confirmed cases as on 15 June 2020 is recorded at 1,905 of which 1,342 persons have recovered and been discharged from hospital, contributing to a recovery rate of 70.45%. No new cases have been reported from the society for over 3 weeks and most new confirmations are from those who have been repatriated from overseas. Curfew has been lifted in all districts and is only imposed between 12am – 4am.

Most government and private sector institutions have now resumed operations and special guidelines are in place when using public transport, public areas and regarding workplace arrangements. The government although previously announced that the airport will reopen on 1 August, is now considering a possible opening prior to that.

Education

• The Ministry of Education has decided to reopen schools in 4 stages from June 29. A revision to the opening and closing times of schools has also been made. The advanced level previously scheduled for August has now been postponed to September 2020.
• The British Council has begun limited IELTS exam delivery following government regulations. More information on test schedules etc is accessible at https://www.britishcouncil.lk/http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Schools-to-reopen-in-4-stages-from-June-29/108-189716

If you have any questions please write to Aatreyee Guha Thakurta (Regional Marketing and Communications Manager, International Education Services, South Asia).