Parents are worried for their school going children as the prevailing heatwave is likely to continue in the country for a few more days.
Guardians said people are falling sick due to intense heat sweeping across the country whereas children and elderly people are bearing the brunt.
They raised questions as who will take the responsibility if any student dies of heatstroke during classes in the educational institutions.
The worries multiplied as the Met Office on Sunday extended the heat alert for three more days from Sunday, marking its fourth extension of warning.
This extension follows previous warnings issued on April 19, 22, and 25.
Saiful Islam dropped his child at University Laboratory School and College on the Dhaka University campus on Sunday.
When he came back from work to pick his child up, he said, "It was an unwise decision to reopen the schools amid the intense heat. Due to unbearable heat, even we elderly men are becoming tired of dropping and picking them up. I don know how our little children are enduring the heat."
Saiful said educational institutions could have remained closed some more days until the heat decreases.
Salma Khatun who brought her two children to the school from Jigatola said, "The heat is unbearable outside. We could have taken care of them at home during this critical period. The authorities should reconsider their decision to reopen the educational institutions."
Amid the blistering heat that the country is experiencing, at least 17 students of Hatiya Janakalyan Shikkah Trust High School, a secondary school in Noakhali, fell sick due to extreme heat on Sunday.
Three teachers died of suspected heatstroke in Chattogram, Jashore and Gopalganj districts on the same day.
At least four other people died of suspected heatstroke in three districts, one each in Narsingdhi and Rajshahi and two in Madaripur.
Despite the heat alert issued by the Met Office, Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel said keeping the educational institutions closed would be unwise.
Nowfel said if the temperature in any district exceeds 42 degrees, the educational institutions of the respective area may be closed.
However, following the incident at Hatiya Janakalyan Shikkah Trust High School in the morning, the school authorities called a local doctor who administered first aid to the students and later sent them home.
Fatema Israt, Assistant Senior teacher of the school, told journalists that after the start of classes around 10:00am, some students started to fall sick.
She said 11 students of Class VI, two each of Class VIII, Class IX and Class X fell ill due to extreme heat.
On the same day, a Class VI student fainted in Munshiganjs Tongibari amid the intense heat.
The incident took place during classes at Banari Bahumukhi High School of Hasail Banari union.
Immediately after the incident, the school authorities took the student, Sumi Akhter, 14, to Tongibari Health Complex.
In Chattogram, madrasa teacher Md Mostak Ahmed Kutubi Alkaderi, 55, fell unconscious while going to his workplace from his home in the Mohra area of Chandgaon.
Kutubi Alkaderi, son of late Khalilur Rahman of Kutubdia in Coxs Bazar district, left two sons and a daughter to mourn his death.
He used to work at Khitapchar Azizia Mabudia Alim Madrasha in Boalkhali upazila of Chattogram.
Witnesses said when the madrasha teacher boarded the ferry at Kalurghat around 9:00am, he suddenly collapsed.
Later, he was taken to Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) where doctors declared him dead.
In Jashore, Ahsan Habib, an Assistant Teacher of Ahmedabad High School, died of suspected heatstroke on Sunday in sadar upazila.
School Headmaster AZM Parvez Masud said Habib fell sick around 9:00am when he went to school after working in a field.
Later, he was taken to Jashore General Hospital, where a doctor declared him dead.
Regarding the closure of educational institutions, Minister Nowfel said that if the temperature in any district exceeds 42 degrees, the educational institutions of the respective area may be closed.
He said this at a programme marking the Technical and Vocational Education Week 2024 at the Dhaka Mohila Polytechnic Institute on Sunday.
It will not be a wise decision to declare the educational institution close observing the temperature of Dhaka city as the temperature varies from district to district, Nowfel said.
The secondary schools and colleges reopened on Sunday across the country after seven-day of closure due to heatwave.
Although schools and colleges across the country reopened on Sunday, low attendance plagued different schools and colleges.
In Rajshahis BCSIRs Laboratory High School, only 100 out of 601 students attended, reported a national daily.
However a notice issued by the Education Ministry instructed educational institutions to suspend daily assemblies until the heat wave becomes tolerable.
Besides, other activities at the educational institutions which are done outside the classrooms or require sun exposure will remain limited.
The Met Office forecast, "Due to increasing moisture incursion, the discomfort may increase."
The highest temperature of 42.2 degrees was recorded in Jashore, according to the Met Office.
The lowest temperature of 22.8 degrees Celsius was recorded in Sylhet.
The Dhaka city recorded the highest temperature of 39.0 degrees Celsius on Sunday.
