Bangladesh on Wednesday resumed in-person classes for children across the country in strict compliance with health directives.

"Educational institutions reopened for in-person classes for students aged under 12 from today," Education Minister Dipu Moni told reporters.

She asked school authorities to follow health regulations strictly during in-person classes.

Meanwhile, the minister said they are working on a plan to vaccinate children under the age of 12.

Apparently, the resumption of in-person classes elated parents and their children who returned to campuses after a long time.

On Wednesday morning in Dhaka, happy gatherings of parents and children were seen in front of many government and private schools.

With COVID-19 cases rising since December last year due to the highly-infectious Omicron strain, the Bangladeshi government announced the closure of educational institutions temporarily on Jan. 21 this year, which was later extended in phases to Feb. 21.

The country's secondary and higher educational institutes reopened on Feb. 22 after a closure of one month as authorities decided not to extend COVID-19 restrictions except mask mandates which remained as usual.

Amid surging cases with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country, the Bangladeshi government on Jan. 13 imposed 11-point restrictions till Feb. 7, and then extended them up to Feb. 21.

The latest moves came as the COVID-19 situation continued to improve in the country in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, Bangladesh reported 732 new cases, taking the infection tally to 1,945,108.

The country also reported eight new deaths from the pandemic Wednesday, taking the death toll to 29,053.